Sherlock: Carpe Diem
by ameliajokermoriarty
Summary: The clock is ticking for Holmes and Watson, along with their new companions. OC Characters and can also be found on Wattpad. Sheriarty shipping involved.


Sherlock: Carpe Diem

It was just a normal day on Baker street. Nothing was out of the ordinary. The flat of 221B was the same as it had always been, with Sherlock buzzing around working on an experiment of some sort and John sitting in his chair, typing on his blog. Mrs. Hudson was downstairs, occasionally coming up to try and make small talk with John and Sherlock, until Sherlock became irritated and would say something cold to send her away. Everything was normal in the flat of 221B Baker street on that strangely sunny London morning, until the door of the flat swung open to everyone's suprise. John looked up from his laptop and Sherlock peered out from the kitchen where he had been working on his experiment. Standing in the door way was a girl. She couldn't of been 16 years old, the youngest possibly 14, Sherlock deduced. Her hair looked unkempt and was tied up. Her clothes looked like she was trying to be more comfortable than stylish and she had deep bags under her eyes which suggested that she hadn't slept well. Her body seemed rather stiff and that also helped Sherlock to conclude that her sleep had also been rather uncomfortable. She had just gotten off a plane.

"Hey, Uncle John." she said, yawning as she did.

John smiled and walked over to her and hugged her. She laughed and hugged him back and he took was smiling widely as her when they pulled away from each other. Sherlock was slightly confused. John had never mentioned having a neice before and as far as he knew, John's sister, Harry, focused on women. The girl turned around and grabbed her bag from the hallway. The bag was quite large and it suggested that girl would be staying wherever she was going for quite some time.

"Jamie, I thought your plane was going to be delayed, otherwise I would have been at the airport to get you." John said.

"It's fine Uncle John. Turns out that we arrived on time and I had enough money to take a cab. How have you been?"

She had an accent and was obviously not from England or even Britain for that matter. Sherlock was able to tell that she was obviously from Canada. Probably Southern Ontario by the looks of it. Even though she was extremely pale and was obviously of English decent she did have the characteristics of people from Southern Ontario. Probably grew up in a more rural part of Ontario, but close enough to a higly populated city that if she wanted to go she could, by car. Her clothes suggested that she was more into darker clothing and probably listened to punk or rock music. There was probably also some classic old time rock that she listened to that was probably passed onto her by a parental figure. She seemed comfortable around John, so they had probably met before at least 3times, a long time before Sherlock had even known John existed and before John had fought in Afghanistan. The two of them continued to chat and it seemed as though they had forgotten that Sherlock was there. Of course this irritated Sherlock immensely and he coughed loudly in order to get their attention.

"Oh, sorry. Jamie, this is my flat mate-" John started.

"Sherlock Holmes." she smiled. " Pleased to meet you."

"Might I inquire after your full name please?" Sherlock said.

"You may inquire, but that doesn't mean I'll give you an answer."

"I could simply check your bags, if you won't tell me." Sherlock said, not comprehending this girls behaviour.

"Go ahead." she said, smirking.

Sherlock walked over to the bag that John held in his hands and found the information card that was attatched to it. He picked up the card and studied it over. The adress confirmed that she was indeed from Canada and from Southern Ontario, in a town called Bolton, which got it's name from Bolton, Enlgand, proving that English settlers were the first to found the town. When he looked at the name on the card it said "Lilith Ventus". Obviously a fake name. Sherlock looked at the girl, a questioning glance upon his face.

"You don't actually think I would put my real name on my luggage do you? That's obsurd." she laughed.

"John, how is this girl related to you? Last I was informed, your sister was interested in women and you have no other brothers or sisters that I am aware of."

"We're not actually related, Sherlock. Jamie's family and my own were friends and before I went to Afghanistan, I would sometimes visit and stay with them when I went to Canada. That's why she refers to me as her Uncle John." John smiled.

"Hey, Uncle John, where should I put my bag?" Jamie asked.

"She's staying with us?" Sherlock asked.

"Yes Sherlock, she is."

"Why was I not informed of this? I would have said no immedietly!" Sherlock exclaimed.

"That is exactly why I didn't tell you. She is staying here with us for awhile, Sherlock, so get used to it."

"Still don't know where to put my bag. But I'll just assume that I should empty it in one of these empty drawers." she said.

"Let me guess you know the drawers are empty because you have x-ray vision?" John laughed.

"No. They are fully pushed in. The other drawers are open slightly due to the amount of clothing inside. Simple enough to notice." She said, bringing her bag over and beginning to unpack it.

"I don't understand why she has to stay with us John." Sherlock said.

"Because, Sherlock, I consider her to be my family and she asked if she could stay." John said. "Now apologize."

"Oh, it's quite alright Uncle John. I understand exactly why Mr. Holmes doesn't want me here. As clearly evident, by the state of the kitchen and the rest of the flat, Sherlock performs many experiments here and doesn't want a immature child such as myself to get in the way of such important tasks. He also does not want me to distract you or himself when you take on cases. He believes that I will become a burden." Jamie said, continuing to unpack her luggage.

"Why can your "neice" understand my predicment with this whole arrangement and not you John. Honestly you're being outsmarted by a 16 year old." Sherlock huffed.

"Actually I'm 15." she smiled.

Sherlock glared at her, while John continued to smile. Sherlock walked into the kitchen and continued working on his experiments. For John's sake, that girl better not get in his way. Sherlock could here John and Jamie talking out in the sitting room. John offered to make her a cup of tea and she agreed. John walked into the kitchen smiling and put on the kettle.

"You better be making one for me too, John." Sherlock said.

"And why should I? After you were so rude to our guest?" John said.

"She's your guest, John, and I was not being rude, I was merely stating my opinion on this situation."

"You know, Sherlock, maybe if you actually get to know somebody, you'll like them or have something in common with them."

"What in the world could I have in common with a 15 year old girl, who is taking basic schooling and who hasn't even learned half of what is necessary to even graduate high-school."

"You'd be suprised, Sherlock." John said, chuckling as he left the kitchen.

Sherlock immedietly went back to his experiment, not wanting to think about the unforunate guest who was going to be staying with them for a longevity of time that he wasn't even sure of in this moment. He walked over to the fridge and took out some apple juice. He then reached under the sink and found a tub of bleach. He set them down on the island in the middle of the kitchen. He poured a certain amount of bleach into on contained and then a certain amount of apple juice into another. He studied them carefully, eyeing them and making sure that they had just the right amount of each substance. Just as he was about to pour them into one container, a hand grasped his wrists, halting his movements. He looked up to see Jamie, who was rolling her eyes at him.

"What is so important that you had to interupt me from my experiment?" Sherlock asked, irritation evident.

"Oh nothing really." Jamie smiled.

"Then why are you still holding onto my wrist?" Sherlock asked.

"Oh! I'm just stopping you from killing yourself." she beamed.

"How was I going to kill myself?" Sherlock asked, glaring at her.

"You didn't make the measurements correctly. There isn't enough apple juice for it to balance correctly with the bleach."

"I checked my measurements, I know what I'm doing." Sherlock said.

She sighed and grabbed the container of apple juice. She poured it into a graduated cylinder and then poured it in with the rest of the apple juice. She then mixed the bleach and appl juice together and drank a little. She gagged at the taste, but nevertheless smirked at Sherlock.

"Your welcome, Sherlock." she said as she left the kitchen.

All Sherlock could think that whole night, was that he had been outsmarted by a 15 year old girl he had just met. The next morning when he woke up, which was around 5:15 am, he walked into the kitchen, only to see Jamie playing around with chemicals in the kitchen, as well as the human head he had been keeping in the fridge.

"What are you doing?" he asked her.

"Good Morning." she smiled, before getting back to playing with the chemicals.

"A child like yourself should really learn not to touch things that aren't hers, as well as to not play with highly dangerous chemicals and human heads." Sherlock stated.

"I just wanted breakfest, but I found a head instead."

"What are you doing anyway? Go bother John and stop touching my experiments." Sherlock huffed, annoyed by this girl already.

"Actually this is my experiment. I haven't touched yours. It's right there."

Sure enough his experiment was still on the island in the kitchen. In fact it hadn't even been touched at all. Jamie smirked at him and went back to dropping different types of acid onto the different parts on the human head. He looked at her as she did this, and she seemed to have quite a fascination with it and began writing down observations of what happened to each part of the head.

"Why are you doing that? Surely they taught you in school how powerful and dangerous some acids can be."

"I'm highly aware of how dangerous they can be. That's why I'm testing them on this human head. See how they work by themselves and then mix them together with certain amounts and see if the acids get weaker or stronger. I could have tried it on my own hand, but that seems extremely counter productive."

"JOHN!" Sherlock yelled, not taking his eyes off of Jamie.

John groaned as he heard Sherlock calling out his name. He looked at the clock beside his bed and it read 5:25 am. What the bloody hell did Sherlock need at this time in the morning? John got out of bed and climbed down the stairs into the main part of the flat. He walked into the kitchen and saw Sherlock, Jamie, a bunch of chemicals and a human head. Not good.

"What the bloody hell do you want, Sherlock?" John yawned.

"HER! OUT! I can't think with her here! I walk down here and she's stolen my head that was meant for my experiments and then stole my chemicals to use on it! Not only that, but yesterday, she interrupted me mid-experiment! I will not stand for this, John!" Sherlock exclaimed.

"Why did you interrupt his experiment, Jamie? I specifically told you to stay out of his way. I told you how difficult he is to handle when people get in his way." John groaned.

"I only interrupted him so that he wouldn't kill himself. What use is he to London then?" Jamie asked.

"Kill himself?" John asked confused.

"He was going to mix apple juice and bleach. With the specific amount of each substance and mixing them together, the two substances cancel each other out and it becomes drinkable. But it has to be the specific amount, otherwise it will kill you. Sherlock didn't add the right amount of apple juice. He would have died if he drank it."

"So you're upset that she outsmarted you?" John asked grinning.

"She did not outsmart me!" Sherlock huffed. "I'm going out!"

Sherlock went to grab his coat and he slipped it on. Just as he was about to head out the door, somebody grasped onto his shoulder. He turned around only to have his scarf shoved into his face.

"You forgot this."Jamie said.

"How do you know that I would want to wear this?" Sherlock asked, obviously annoyed.

"You're a creature of habit, Sherlock Holmes. Though you try to hide it. When you're bored you smoke and whenever you go out, you wear the same coat and scarf, never changing it up. Though you do a good jobof trying to hide your habits."

"How did you know that?" John asked.

"Simple. His jacket smells of cigarettes, though not strongly enough for him to be an avid smoker. It's only rarely then that he does smoke, more than less likely when he is bored. Also if you notice, on the collar of his jacket there are tiny blue cloth fibres, the fibres match his scarf, thus suggesting that he wears it often, seeing as they are all over not just the collar of his jacket, but also on other parts of his coat as well." Jamie said.

Sherlock glared at her and snatched the scarf out of her hands and then stormed out of the flat. John groaned, knowing that it was best to go after him to make sure that he didn't do something that would help him kill Jamie.

"Look Jamie, I better go after him. Do you think you'll be alright here?" John asked.

"I'll be fine,Uncle John. Just make sure Sherlock doesn't do anything he'll regret, even though he'll never admit to regretting it." Jamie smiled.

John walked out of the apartment, with the intent of following Sherlock. Jamie just smiled and sat down in the middle of the flat, waiting. John caught up to Sherlock fairly quickly. He had to rip a lit cigarette out of Sherlock's mouth and stamp it out on the ground.

"Sherlock, stop behaving like a child!" John yelled.

"I am not behaving like a child, John. Your guest is driving me absouloutly mad!"

"What! Because she saved your life and poured acids onto a head? Sherlock you do creepy experiments like that all the time! Why do you care if she does it?"

"Because she is getting in my way."

"Sherlock, do you want to know who she is?"John asked.

"Not particurly,but I know you're going to tell me anyways." Sherlock said, looking directly at John.

"She's you Sherlock! Just a younger, female, version of you!"

"I don't know who or what put such a daft idea in your head, John, but it is most certainly not true."

"Sherlock, look at the facts. She's not as smart as you, but that's due to lack of experience and training. She's extremely interested in everything you are and the reason why she was sent here is because her parents didn't think that there was enough for her back in her hometown to help her with experience until University. Though the head thing did disturb me greatly this morning, it made me happy because she's finally getting the experience she never had Sherlock. She's not you, she doesn't understand everything like you seem to, but she strives to do saw how she analyzed you today. Who the hell has ever analyzed you? Sherlock, she's just here to learn, so leave her be." John said.

"Fine." Sherlock said. "But get her some supplies for herself. I don't want her using mine again. I'm sure that Molly can get her a head or whatever limbs she may want."

"Thank you, Sherlock. Now can we please go back to the flat?"

Sherlock nodded and began heading back to the flat with John. As they walked up the stairs, towards their flat. They heard . Plural. There should only be one voice and it shoud be that of Jamie. Next they heard a series of gunshots. John ran up the stairs and rushed into the apartment, Sherlock shortly behind them. The scene in front of them caused bothof their blood to boil. Jamie was standing in the middle of the room, trying to put on an innocent face while two other girls stood beside her. One holding a gun that was aimed at the smiley face on the wall. The other about to play Sherlock's violin. None of them looked anything alike. Jamie had hazel eyes and dirty blonde hair that was cut into side bangs and tied up in pig tails and had fair skin that looked pink in places. The girl holding Sherlock's violin was pale and had freckles as well as orange hair that was cut into full bangs and was up to the length of her shoulder blades. The one holding John's gun had hazel eyes and dark brown hair. She was the tallest of all of them, but she had pale skin as well. The girls holding the gun and the violin put them behind their backs, laughing slightly as they did so.

"Hey Uncle John." Jamie said.

"Oh yes, John. Let her be. We leave her alone for five minutes and she lets two strangers in who completelty take your gun and shoot the wall but also take my violin! Yes let's trust her with multiple kinds of different acids and human limbs! What could go wrong?" Sherlock laughed, mostly to spite John.

"Jamie! Explain! Now!"

"Well, Uncle John, theses are my friends Tessa," she said pointing to the girl with orange hair," and Dynah," pointing to the other girl holding John's gun. "They're staying with us while I'm here."

"Since when did I say yes to this?" John asked

"Since you became the best fake Unlce ever? And since you found out they have no place to stay?" she asked, smiling softly.

"No! John I will not stand for this! One teenager is bad enough, but three?"

Sherlock stormed over and grabbed his violin and bow from Tessa's hand. He checked it for damage and she just laughed.

"It isn't damaged, Sherlock. I know how much it means to you." Tessa smiled.

"How would you know that? We haven't known each other very long."

"But I bet you know a few things about me. Just by looking at my clothes and even the way I stand."

"I know that you lived close to Jamie in Canada, however not in the same town, judging by the way you're carrying yourself. You probably lived in a populated city that was roughly a half and hour to forty five minutes away from the town Jamie lived in, so you did not see her that often, however you were friends with Dynah before you met Jamie. Dynah carries herself in a similar fashion to you, thus suggesting that she lived closer to you, before she moved closer to Jamie. You all bonded through similar interests. Jamie and Tessa, you bonded through your love of science and knowledge of the unknown, where as both of your friendships with Dynah were based on interests in the paranormal and things related to pop culture." Sherlock said.

"That was brilliant..." Dynah gaped. "I thought you two were creepy when you analyzed people, but that was sick!"

Tessa and Jamie both looked over to there friend and smiled before refocusing on Sherlock.

"What can you say about me, Tessa?" Sherlock asked.

" You are a creature of habit, Sherlock Holmes, but I know that Jamie has already said this to you. You are a high functioning sociopath. You care for little besides yourself and your experiments and only rarely show affection to those around you unless they are very important. For example John, Mrs. Hudson , and even rarely Molly, however that is more likely to gain access to the morgue that she works at, isn't that right? When bored, you show a little more of you crazy side and begin to panic, by not having anything occupy your idle thoughts. That's why you satisfy your boredom with a cigarette." Tessa said grinning.

"I don't think I can handle three Sherlock's." John sighed.

"Hey I've had to handle two my whole life. It's only fair you have to deal with them too!" Dynah said.

"We love you too, Dynah!" Tessa and Jamie beamed.

"So...does that mean they can stay?" Jamie asked.

"It's alright, but no more playing with guns! Or touching Sherlock's violin."

"But Dynah needs target practice!" Tessa said.

"What does a 15 year old need target practice for?" Sherlock laughed.

"She's in a program that trains kids for the army. She wants to be a pilot, but she's getting all the training. They obviously do not let 15 year olds use guns for a reason." Jamie laughed.

"John, why have you brought this curse upon us?" Sherlock groaned.

'Do stop whining, Sherlock. It's unflattering." Jamie grinned.

"Don't worry, Sherlock. They'll be fine."

"Hey Tessa, Dynah come into the kitchen! I want to show you what I did to this human head with sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid!" Jamie beamed.

They all ran into the kitchen and began laughing. It was actually generally morbid, but Sherlock remembered a younger verison of himself being fascinated and amused by his own experiments at the time. However,his did not involve decaying flesh.

"Jamie is perculiar."

"I'm aware, Sherlock."

"She shows signs of a psychological illness."

"It's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Sherlock."

"I know that."

"Uncle John, how about not spreading the fact that I have PTSD to the world!?" Jamie yelled from the kitchen.

"He knew anyways, not like it makes a difference."

John looked over to Sherlock, who was grinning widely and looking over towards the kitchen, chuckling to himself. John cracked a wide smile.

"You like her." John whispered.

"On the contrary, she is quite annoying and troublesome." Sherlock responded.

"Let me guess, so is Tessa and Dynah?" John asked.

"So are is the correct grammatical pronounciation, John."

"Whatever, Sherlock." John said smiling.

Sherlock rolled his eyes at his flat mate and walked into the kitchen to go and work on his own experiment. He saw the three girls huddled around the severed head as Jamie continued to pour other chemicals now,onto it. Sherlock walked over to his own experiment then and began to work on it. It wasn't too complicated. Just testing how strong the bones of one of the healthiest people found dead in the morgue was, compared to the unhealthiest. After awhile of working, he began to feel eyes on him and he turned around to see Tessa, Jamie and Dynah all watching him and his experiment.

"Do you need something?" he asked.

"Just observing. Carry on." Tessa said.

Sherlock turned around and he footsteps that he knew to be Dynah's leaving the room. He heard Dynah and John beginning to talk. They probably had a lot in common. Dynah could learn a lot more about the war and what war was like, better than any program could teach her. He heard mumbling behind him and he knew that Tessa and Jamie were discussing his experiment. He smirked to himself, and got up and left the kitchen. He heard them sigh angrily at the fac that he had left it unfinished, and chuckled darkly.

"What are they sighing about?" John asked, breaking his conversation with Dynah.

"Oh nothing. Just suffering through the fact that answers do not come when you want them." With that, Sherlock walked out of the flat, wearing his coat and scarf, not being able to stop himself from thinking that this was all going to be so amusing. Sherlock came back to the flat around 12:48 am that night, or rather morning. The flat was quiet and he assumed that everyone had gone to bed,until he heard foot steps. He immedietly recgnized them to Dynah's. He flicked on the lights and he saw Dynah walking around in the dark.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I couldn't sleep."

"Why were you walking around with the lights off? Oh never mind, you don't know this place and obviously have not memorized where the switch is yet."

"Yeah." Dynah yawned.

"Do you always have trouble sleeping? You act as if this isn't a normal occurance."

"Sometimes, but generally I'm fine. Probably just a new place. It's usually Jamie who can't sleep."

"Nightmares?"

" just insomnia." Dynah yawned once more.

"Typical. Go back to bed Dynah. You should fall back asleep now that you've started moving around."

"Alright, good night, Sherlock."

"Good night, Dynah-"Sherlock trailed off.

"Dynah Parker." Dynah smiled before going off to bed.

"You know you should really not talk about people's sleeping habits when they're supposed to be sleeping. I don't know why you're talking about sleeping habits anyway. It's so drawl."

Sherlock turned around to see Jamie behind him.

"You're an odd person. Not quite normal."

"But somebody who isn't normal as well, am I not normal? It's all a matter of perspective, Sherlock."

"What's your last name?" Sherlock asked.

"What do you want it for?" Jamie asked.

"Just want to know in case I'm hunting you down in the future. Or one of your friends." he said smirking.

" Dynah Parker. Tessa Daniels, and I'm Jamie Kent. Nice to meet you, Sherlock Holmes."

"Pleasure, Jamie Kent."

Chapter 2

Sherlock had never been so frustrated in his entire existence. It had been a week since Jamie had first arrived at Baker Street and it was a living breathing hell. There was no quiet. No way for Sherlock to even possibly be able to think. Those girls were always running around doing something and he found himself planning ways to stage an accident in order to get them sent home. He still wasn't sure how long they would be here seeing as John refused to tell him. He had caught Tessa with his violin at least 8 times this week and Dynah with John's gun about 13 times. Jamie was constantly running around with different things, claiming they were experiments and when he would go to see what she was doing, he couldn't find them anywhere. These girls were the most estranged group of teenagers he had ever encountered. John didn't seem to mind them, and would occasionally laugh at their insane antics. Having them here now seemed to also give more of a reason to visit, due to the fact that the girls were such "charming" company. Sherlock felt like he was slowly losing all the knowledge that he had gained over the years. Today was unlike any other day from the past week. Sherlock was curled up on the couch, trying to drown out all of the noises around him. John was sitting in his usual chair, typing away, however this was not on his blog. You could tell because he was easily losing concentration while reading and typing and generally when he was typing on his blog, he was rather focused. Jamie was in the kitchen, doing an experiment that Sherlock could not be bothered to go an check on, because by the time he got there, it would have disappeared and he was not in the right state of mind to go looking around the flat for something that he didn't even know what it was. Dynah and Tessa were sitting at the desk laughing about something, but once more, Sherlock was not interested in what it was. All he wanted was to have his flat back. He was tired of it being over run by these children. Sherlock was absolutely itching for a case at this point in time. He kept staring at his phone, hoping that Lestrade would text him, informing him that he needed is help. He was constantly checking his website and even John's blog to see if anybody had a case for him, but mosy of them were too stupid for him to even get involved in. So he was stuck here, bored out of his mind. He would be smoking, if it weren't for the fact that Jamie and her friends had stolen them for an experiment of apparently "great importance". The fact that John seemed so okay with this ruckus was something that Sherlock just could not comprehend. Maybe it was because he was used to this kind of behaviour. Obviously in his previous visits to Canada he had grown accustomed to Jamie's behaviour and so her,along with Tessa and Dynah, were really no problem to him. Apparently John didn't care that they were a problem to Sherlock. Suddenly Sherlock's phone began to vibrate and he jumped from his seat on the couch to grab it. It was Lestrade.

Homicide. 2 bodies. Need your help.

"John! We have a case, let's go!" Sherlock said, grabbing his coat and scarf to head out the door.

"Alright, Sherlock. Girls will you be alright by yourselves?" John called out.

"John, they're 15 years old. They can surely handle themselves." Sherlock said, trying to rush John out the door.

"We'll be fine, Uncle John. Have fun on the case!" Jamie called from the kitchen.

Sherlock pushed John out of the flat and down the stairs until they were out on the street where he received another text from Lestrade giving him the address to where the homicide had taken place. Sherlock quickly hailed a cab and John and him began to drive to the address.

"Sherlock, what's going on?"John asked.

"2 Homicides. That's all Lestrade said. That and he needed my help,obviously meaning that there is something different with this case, that the entirety of Scotland Yard can't seem to figure out."

"Right. How long do you think it will take, because in all honesty, I don't trust leaving those girls in that flat for too long. Jamie might blow it up, Dynah might take my gun again and who knows what Tessa might do to your violin."

"John, are you purposely trying to agitate me with the thoughts of what your guests could possibly do to my flat in our absence. If you're so worried about it then tell them to meet us outside the crime scene. They can pay for their own cab fare, but please stop pestering me with thoughts about them. This is my first moment away from them in what seems like an eternity and I can finally think properly. Do not ruin that for me, John."

The rest of the cab ride was silent, John choosing to leave the girls t the flat, rather than risk Sherlock losing his mind in front of Scotland yard, giving them more reason to believe that he is a lunatic than before. When they arrived at the address they saw that it was an extremely rundown set of flats. The building was 13 floors and there were 3 flats on each floor based on the number of porches that could be flat meant for at most 2 people and it looked as if nobody had lived in the building for years. They were quickly escorted inside by Lestrade, Sherlock making a comment or two directed towards Anderson. They walked up the stairs until they reached a flat on the 9th floor where the homicides had taken place. The flat was rather tiny and Sherlock was correct, as he knew he was, that it was meant for 2 people. The kitchen was small and was not very functional, with only room for a fridge, stove, dishwasher and 2 counter tops. A table could not fit in there, so meals were probably eaten in the living room in front of the television. There were plates on the table in the living room and the food was half finished. Lestrade led John and Sherlock into the bedroom of the tiny flat and that's where the two bodies were found. Sherlock understood why this case was so puzzling just by looking at the bodies. They had been altered. This meaning that limbs had been cut off and then sewn back onto the bodies. Some limbs were exchanged between the bodies. The bodies were that of a man and a women, so it was easy enough to distinguish which limb belonged to which victim. Not only that, but the bodies had been placed in a certain way. The body of the woman was lying face down, arms behind her back and legs tied together. The man, was held up against the wall, with a circle drawn around his body. Sherlock put on a pair of latex gloves and began to look over the bodies. He walked over to the women first.

"She was tied up post-mortem. Easily noticeable by the fact that her wrists are not chaffed by the tight binding. If she had been tied up while she was still alive, they would have been cut open because she would have been trying to escape. She wore a wedding ring, however that is now gone, but you can see that she wore it from the slight tan line around her finger. She had an engagement ring, which is still on her finger now, but has been slid down to where her wedding ring was. Limbs have been replaced with that mans. Left leg and Left arm. This happened post-mortem as well. Their food was poisoned. If you look out onto the table where there food is half eaten you can see remains of them vomiting up the food, probably thinking it was just bad, when really it was poisonous. However the poison in the food was just enough to knock them unconscious rather than kill them. The table is moved out of place in the living room and this would be normal if it weren't for the fact that everything else in the flat is in complete order. They wouldn't have left the table like that when they were so used to everything being straight. So they fall down, one of them hitting the table. Killer comes in and drags them both into the room. The women wouldn't of been hard to move,but the man weighed about 254 pounds. The killer was strong. He tied the man against the wall and then strangled him, as evident by the hand prints around his neck. The woman was shot in the stomach while she was lying down. This causes hydrochloric acid to seep out of her stomach and it would burn all of her organs. There was obviously more of a vendetta against the women rather than the man, but still some hatred towards him, otherwise he would have been given a quick death instead of strangulation. The man and woman both spent a lot of time outside and judging by their clothing, both work in an office for long hours. They rarely talk to each other, however the woman is very happy in their relationship,where as the man is not, seeing as he has not worn his wedding ring for quite some time. His job is a lot more strenuous than hers, it's evident by the stress lines on his forehead. He wants to quit his job, but obviously his wife will not let him do that. She worked at the Bank of England according to her I.D card in her skirt pocket and he worked at a dead end publishing company. Looking at the bed you can tell that the woman was the only one sleeping in here and that the man had been sleeping on the couch in the living room, showing the problems in their relationship. The mans left arm is replaced by the woman's and so is his left leg. Also a rope tied around his neck. But why the circle. Why was he placed in a circle?"

Sherlock continued to look over the body of the man. His arms spread out completely straight, with his legs spred out below him. It looked mostly like Da Vinci's sketch of the Vitruvian Man. Perfectly proportioned and was used to show how the human figure could fit perfectly in both a circle and a square. But there was no square here and it seemed like it was only showing that the body could fit inside the circle. Suddenly there was the sound of yelling from behind him and he turned around, distracted by it. Next thing Sherlock knew, Tessa, Dynah, and Jamie were all standing in the room. Lestrade was looking at them, in pure shock.

"Who the hell let kids in here!" Lestrade yelled.

"Oh it's alright, Inspector Lestrade. We're friends of Sherlock and John." Jamie said smiling.

"I don't have friends, Jamie." Sherlock glared at her.

"Do you know them, John?" Lestrade asked.

"Family friends." John sighed.

"Why the hell are they here! This is a crime scene! You can't go around inviting kids in here!"

"I didn't. They're supposed to be back at the flat." John said, looking at all of them.

"We got bored. Besides blame them for not having better security. All we had to do was climb the walls at the back of the building in order to get in here."

"You scaled the building? Your mother is going to have my head for this." John mumbled.

"Oh relax, Uncle John. I do it all the time at home. It's no surprise to her." Jamie said.

"CAN ALL OF YOU SHUT UP! LESTRADE LET THEM STAY IF IT WILL MAKE THEM SHUT UP! BUT I NEED TO FIGURE THIS OUT!" Sherlock yelled.

All went quiet as Sherlock continued to ponder over the man hanging on the wall. The Vitruvian Man. That's what it had to be, but if it was where was the square. Would we find it later? Was somehow the woman being tied up, supposed to lead us to the Vitruvian Man? Sherlock went over to the body of the woman and untied her hands. Her hands fell into the same position as the mans, even though Sherlock hadn't moved them into that position, which was odd. Her legs were already in that position, but it wasn't a square. It was still the circle.

"Let me guess. You think it's the Vitruvian Man?" Jamie asked.

"Vitruvian Man?" Lestrade asked.

"You know the ink painting that Leonardo Da Vinci did? It shows how the human is perfectly proportioned and can fit in both inside a circle and a square." Tessa said, turning to face Lestrade.

"You learn about it for basic art. Everything that is designed is based off the proportions of a human being." Dynah said.

"Yes I do believe it is the Vitruvian Man. But the square is missing for some reason." Sherlock said.

"It isn't missing. It isn't supposed to be the Vitruvian Man." Jamie said.

"Then what is it supposed to be? Tell me?" Sherlock said, extremely frustrated at this point.

"It's a Wiccan Pentacle." Jamie said.

"A what?" John asked.

"A Wiccan Pentacle. It is a star that has 5 points. The arms are one, then the leg and lastly the head is the last point. The centre of it represents the 5 senses." she moved to life up the deceased mans shirt, there was a pentagon on his torso." Each point represents an element. The arms Water and Air, and the legs Fire and Earth. The head represents God or a spirit and the circle is protection for all of them."

Jamie moved forward past Sherlock and untied the rope that was around the mans neck. As soon as it was untied, his head fell off and behind where his head was, on the wall it read NO GOD. Jamie smiled.

"Now look at the woman," Tessa said, following Jamie's lead. " It isn't the Vitruvian Man or a Wiccan Pentacle. It is a pentagram."

"It's more generally referred to as a Devil's Star. Her body was purposely laid backwards to the door so we could see this." Dynah said.

"What the bloody hell, Sherlock! Are you training kids to solve murder cases now?" Lestrade asked.

"No I am not."

Sherlock was frustrated. Beyond it by this point. 3 teenagers girls were able to see what he missed, so caught up in his own theories that he didn't even think about another possibility, but those girls had seen it so clearly, but why had they?

"Now all that's needed is to figure out why the left limbs are replaced on each victim..." Jamie said.

"Jamie! You're brilliant!' Sherlock said, everything coming to play together in his mind.

"Thanks, I guess."

"Don't you see? This is supposed to be a symbol of protection and behind the point that is supposed to represent God, the point is cut off and the words NO GOD are there! Then the pentagram or "Devil's Star" is there. Jamie, tell me what they used to believe about left handed people in the past!"

"They used to believe that they were minions of the devil and often made them learn to use their right hand instead because in biblical lore, good people are always on the right side." Jamie said.

"Tessa, check the woman's hand on the man's left side, and Dynah check the man's hand on the woman's left side."

Dynah and Tessa both moved over to the bodies and inspected the left hand, not entirely sure what they were looking for.

"What do you see on the man's hand on the woman's body, Dynah?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

"What about you, Tessa? What do you see on the woman's hand attached to the man's body?"

"Ink smudges on the side of the hand. She was left handed."

"Exactly. The killer switched their hands. He gave the left handed woman's arm to the man, almost like he was trying to taint him with evil. He gave the man's arm to the woman, because she was already evil, but he thought by giving it to her, she would become useless and not able to use her evil! Oh my God, you girls are brilliant!" Sherlock laughed.

"I thought we were a nuisance." Dynah mumbled and Tessa and Jamie began to snicker.

"Is nobody else concerned that three 16 year old's just inspected a body, and are not completely terrified, but rather happy about it?" Lestrade asked.

"No. I'm concerned too. And their 15" John said.

"Doesn't that make it so much better." Lestrade sighed.

"Your mad man is a priest, Inspector. By the looks of it, obsessed with God, but can't believe that God is there because there are such evil left handed people in the world."

"There's a priest who lives a floor above." Dynah said.

"How do you know that? You're not even from this country!" John exclaimed.

"We climbed to the wrong floor and he let us in. Seemed off, but we were just focused on getting down here. He was running his hand under water and had a very large sewing kit on his table and some chalk..." Dynah trailed off.

"Why didn't you say something earlier!" Lestrade yelled, calling his men and running up the stairs to the flat above.

"Didn't seem important until now. Good thing he didn't notice I'm ambidextrous." Jamie laughed.

"There is something wrong with you girls."John sighed.

"You're the one who agreed to let them stay with us, John. You have nobody to blame but yourself for this madness. Now let's all head back to Baker Street, shall we?" Sherlock said, walking out of the flat, John following swiftly behind.

"I think he sort of likes us?" Dynah said, looking at Tessa and Jamie.

"He does, in the 'you're totally brilliant, but I hate you for outsmarting me' kind of way." Jamie laughed.

"I like him. He's a good role model. Excluding the sociopathic part."

"I think you could live without that. Hell I could live without that. You two scare me enough already. I don't need you to lose your sense of empathy as well." Dynah joked.

The three girls walked out onto the street, smiling at themselves for being able to help Sherlock with a case. They weren't aware of the eyes watching them, or the fact that they were now in extreme danger.

"Girls hurry up, or we'll leave without you!" John yelled from the cab.

"We're coming, Uncle John. Don't go and get your knickers in a twist." Jamie yelled, before they all ran towards the cab and hopped in.

"God I love England, but it is not warm here and it's April. It feels more like late fall." Dynah mumbled.

"You live in Canada, where temperatures can reach -30 degrees and you say it's cold here?" Sherlock asked.

"For spring, yes it's cold." Tessa said.

The cab ride consisted of the 3 girls talking amongst themselves and Sherlock rubbing his temples, wishing for more dead bodies and that the girls would shut up. He would like them more if they would just be quiet. Was he angry that they had outsmarted him when it came to the murder?Yes he was mad, but more at himself for not noticing it, however he would take it out on them. They were quite smart, for a group of 15 year old's, he had to give them that credit, but he still couldn't help but to question how they knew it was a Wiccan Pentacle.

"Jamie, would you like to explain to me how you figured out that it was a Wiccan Pentacle that the body was set up in?" Sherlock asked.

"I'm not sure. It was the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw the body. I used to go to Wiccan shops all the time when I was younger and my sister Liliane began to study the Wiccan culture, so I just made sure to keep up with it and I learned about it as much as possible. I believed in some of the things, but not about casting spells. Just about energies. But I'm more of a believer of science if anything. It doesn't hurt to broaden your horizons however." Jamie said.

That's all it took. Was for her to look it up and just have it memorized and understand it. Really it was smart of her, that she could absorb information that easily and know where to store it so she could remember it. It reminded Sherlock of his mind palace, except probably not a elaborate and not with as much information. However Jamie seemed stressed a lot of the time when she wasn't around Tessa or Dynah, even John for that matter. She got easily frustrated with herself and Sherlock heard her walking around in the middle of the night when she couldn't sleep and she thought nobody was awake to hear her. Her thoughts probably, though stored well, were mixed up and sometimes very confusing for her. When they arrived back at the flat Tessa and Dynah went to bed, followed shortly after John. It was just Jamie and Sherlock now sitting in the flat. Jamie was being unusually quiet and Sherlock thought this odd.

"Jamie?" he said.

"Shh! I'm thinking." she said.

Sherlock looked at her. Her eyebrows were creased together and she was staring into one spot on the floor. She was blinking as little as possible and her pupils we continuously changing size and her eyes began to flick around the room, before widening in surprise. Then she settled back into her seat, a normal expression on her face.

"Did you need something, Sherlock?" she asked.

"What were you doing?" Sherlock asked.

"Sometimes my thoughts get all mixed up and I need to sort through them. Decide which ones are important and which one's are useless. Archive them. Just helps me think a lot better." Jamie said.

"Finally somebody who understands the need to delete things from their mind." Sherlock mumbled.

"I never delete anything. I archive it. Though it may seem useless now, it could prove to be helpful later on in life." Jamie said.

"You think to much for a typical 15 year old."

"I'm not a typical 15 year old though, am I?"

"No I suppose you're not." Sherlock said smirking.

"Who's Moriarty?" Jamie asked.

"How did you find out that name?" Sherlock asked, unfazed.

"I've seen it on Uncle John's blog. I know he's your enemy, but there's something more to him isn't there?" she asked.

"More than even I understand." Sherlock said.

"That's that you can't even understand. The great Sherlock Holmes. Do you hate it?"

"Hate what?"

"The fact that you can't figure him out?"

"On the contrary, it's rather like a challenge, and it's so rare for one as smart as I am to actually find a real challenge."

"You use every opportunity to flatter yourself, don't you?" Jamie smirked.

"Not intentionally, no. I assume your not going to be sleeping tonight, as usual."

"Probably not. I'll just hack into Uncle John's laptop and work on my stories or something." Jamie said, grabbing John's laptop.

"Shouldn't you be more focused on who's dating who? Or the environment? I know teenagers are more focused on the environment nowadays."

"I don't really care about celebrities, and I do care about the environment, but I play my part. There is no point in me wasting what little time I have left in life trying to convince stubborn people to do something. It's like trying to convince me that comic books suck. It just doesn't work."

"Aren't comic books a waste of time?"

"No. Seeing as they keep up with current events and issues, they are not actually all just people beating the crap out of each other. You can even get a partial history lesson from the older ones. Especially the ones that date back to during the Second World War."

"You really are estranged." Sherlock chuckled.

"I know it, and I embrace it, Sherlock."

Sherlock got up from his seat and left Jamie to sit in that room all night, with her stories and thoughts. The girl was weird. She knew it and so did everyone around her. A lot of her teachers from school would ask her parents if there was something going on at home, since she was so distanced from everybody around her. The only people she ever talked to were Tessa and Dynah. They were really her only friends. She did exceedingly well in school, and had used art as a way to ground all of her thoughts so that she wouldn't have them over flowing. She loved science, especially chemistry and biology, but she disliked math, however she understood that it was important to know. Jamie was quiet, very reserved when it came to people she didn't know,but she loved a challenge, which was why she found Sherlock Holmes so intriguing. He knew so many things, and she wanted to know them too. All she had to do was listen to all that he said, and the more that she bugged him, or pestered him, the more he seemed to tell. His mind was very organized which was why he probably knew so many things, but Sherlock wasn't who Jamie's thoughts were focused on as she sat in the dark of the flat of 221B Baker Street. No. In the darkness of that flat she thought about the man that even Sherlock couldn't understand. She thought about Moriarty. And she sat there and wondered how she was going to meet him.

Chapter 3

Baker Street was still in uproar, and Sherlock didn't think he could take it anymore. The constant noise was stopping all logical thoughts from even entering his brain. He should have forbade John from letting those monsters stay with them. It seemed as though none of this was ever going to end. He now found himself in his housecoat and pajama's all day, curled up into the couch trying to block all of them out. Nobody payed attention to him now anyways, always to caught up with making sure that the girls didn't do anything too dangerous that could potentially kill them all. But what did it matter what they did? The real focus should be why nothing has happened yet! Why no criminals have done anything even of remote interest. The world was dull and boring and Sherlock could not live with that! He couldn't live in a boring world, what would be the point in that. The days already seemed to drag on, but at least he knew that at some moment he would be given a case to work on. Everything was just taking an endless amount of time now. He got up from his place on the couch and went into his room to go and get changed into his purple dress shirt and his pants. He then walked back out to the sitting room, snatching his violin out of Tessa's hands as he walked past, noticing the glare that she gave him in his peripheral vision. He tuned his violin and began to play it. It was just his own music that he wrote, and sometimes he would change it up. He heard John's footsteps running around the flat and he was quickly able to assume that he was running late for an engagement and would be leaving Sherlock here with the three demon teenagers. Oh the joy. He heard John run downstairs and he heard him take an intake of breath, indicating that he was about to say something.

"Your leaving the flat, because you have an engagement, probably with a girl, seeing as you are in such a hurry and are worried about being late. Just go." Sherlock sighed.

"Yes you're right, as usual, Sherlock. Girls, don't do anything bother Sherlock when I'm gone. God knows I can't save you from him if you piss him off."

Sherlock smirked as he heard the door to the flat shut and John walk down the stairs leading out towards the street. John was right, he really couldn't save them if he wasn't there, so they had better listen to John if they wanted to stay on Baker Street. He chuckled lightly to himself and continued to play his violin, noticing that the apartment had become more quiet. It seemed odd, out of character for the girls. He turned around and he saw them all sitting on the stairs that led up to John's room. Just sitting there, not doing anything. Instead of questioning their actions, he stole the rare opportunity of silence and used it to his advantage to keep playing his violin and allowing his thoughts to drift. It was the first time he had been able to thing clearly since Jamie's first day here. He thought about past cases, and even some more previous ones, thought about things that he just couldn't quite figure out. Like the shoes. The ones that had belonged to Carl Powers. Obviously they half played their part in the game Moriarty and himself had played, but how had he known 20 years prior that this was all going to happen. It was impossible. Sherlock himself wasn't even an adult at the time, so it was impossible for Jim to have been one either. So how could he have known that he would need the shoes? Perhaps he kept them as a trophy? Moriarty, in the most simple terms, was vain, and perhaps the shoes were a token of victory for killing Carl Powers and getting away with it. But even then, why keep them for so long. Only to just give them away. It didn't make sense. He heard noises once more, and sighed, wishing for quiet again. If he were anyone but himself, he would have been thankful for the small amount of quiet he got, but no. He was just bitter and angry once more. He heard footsteps running from behind him, and he saw Dynah run up to the window, looking down on the street.

"Hey, Sherlock?" she said.

"Yes, Dynah? Do you recquire something?" he asked, irritation obvious in his voice.

"Either John invited somebody over and forgot about it, you have somebody who has a case for you, or we have a problem. Because somebody just walked into the flat." Dynah said.

Sherlock walked over to the window, to peer down onto the street below, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. He heard footsteps, coming up the stairs towards the flat and they were moving in extremely slow strides, however they were very loud. Almost as if the person wanted Sherlock to hear them. This wasn't a case or a visitor of John's. Most definitely not.

"Jamie, Tessa, Dynah. Go upstairs now, and no matter how hard it is for you, stay quiet." Sherlock ordered.

The girls immediately walked upstairs and tried to be as quiet as possible. Sherlock placed his violin down and walked into the kitchen, to continue an experiment. The person had no intent of hurting him, if they did, they would have been in here by now, attempting to point a gun at his head. No, this person was here for another reason, and if it was who Sherlock believed to be, and he knew that he was right, then they were most definitely here for other reasons. He heard the door to the apartment slowly creak open and the footsteps move slowly over the threshold of the flat. The door shut, with a click and the person continued to move throughout the apartment. Sherlock smirked to himself and put the kettle on, in preparation. Sherlock walked into the living room and sighed when he saw Moriarty sitting in his flat, as if he lived there. He sat in John's chair, legs stretched out in front of him, as if he had the right to feel comfortable here. Moriarty looked up at him and smiled, grinning like the mad man he is.

"Hello, Sherly. Miss me?" he asked.

"Not particularly." Sherlock said. "There's tea being made for you."

"Pity. I had hoped it would have already been prepared for me when I arrived." Moriarty said, pouting.

"I apologize, but I had not expected to be graced with your presence so soon." Sherlock said, lacing his voice with sarcasm.

"Oh, you should always expect the unexpected. Especially when you're dealing with people like me, my dear."

"Did you come here for a specific reason? If not I would appreciate it, if you could leave. Unlike you, I am very busy."

"Oh what, making sure that I don't bother your little guests?"

Sherlock tried to avoid looking surprised, but obviously failed.

"Oh no, they did a grand job of keeping quiet. Wouldn't have even thought they were here, and nothing seems out of the ordinary except for one tiny little thing, Sherlock. Can you tell me what it is?"

"You act as though you have seen my flat before." Sherlock said.

"Oh no I haven't," he smirked," but I know you, and your little pet, and there is one thing in this room that neither of you would ever do. What is it, Sherlock? Tell Daddy."

"It's obviously this."

Sherlock walked up a few steps of the stairs leading to John's part of the flat and picked up a tiny, folded up piece of paper. It looked worn out and the edges were frayed, obviously being continuously shoved into a pocket.

"Oh well done, Sherlock. Now why would neither you nor John do this."

"Why do you bother to ask such tedious things, seeing as we both know the answer to the question?"

"Because it's fun, Sherlock. What other reason do I have for asking?" Moriarty laughed.

"The paper is folded and is worn out, indicating that it is old. It is also being continuously shoved or placed into pockets, as evident from the creased paper and corners. It is obviously something sentimental and you and I both know that I am not a very sentimental person and that John keeps most of his private things on his laptop, even though that really makes little sense, seeing as I can hack into it in a matter or mere seconds." Sherlock said.

"Was that so hard to say? Now, why don't I meet your guests. Perhaps they could be new pieces in our game?" Moriarty chuckled darkly.

"The reason why they are not meeting you, is because they do not need to be involved. There nothing that I concern myself with, so they shouldn't be something you concern yourself with."

"They are living in your flat, thus they must be in some way attached to you, or John, meaning that they are a concern of mine. We both know that you wouldn't be letting them stay here in the first place if you entirely hated them."

"They're...useful, in particular situations."

"Wonderful,Sherlock. Now you have a whole team of sidekicks."

Moriarty got up from his seat and began to waltz around the apartment, looking through books, and even picking up Sherlock's violin to examine it. Sherlock just sat there, until he heard the kettle go off and he stood up to go and make the tea. He heard Moriarty follow behind him. As Moriarty walked with him, into the kitchen, there was thee faint sound of movement from upstairs and Moriarty didn't miss it, just like Sherlock didn't.

"So close." Moriarty smiled.

"How would you like your tea?" Sherlock asked, avoiding Moriarty's comment.

"Milk and Cream." Moriarty said simply, looking up and scanning the ceiling.

Sherlock prepared the tea as Moriarty began to look around the kitchen now and going through all of his experiments and even some of Jamie's, though he made no comment about them, if he knew that they weren't Sherlock's. He opened the fridge, to reveal a few frozen limbs.

"Oh charming. Some nice arms and feet for breakfast. People say I'm the psychopath." Moriarty sighed, shutting the fridge.

Sherlock once more ignored that comment and walked back into the sitting room and placed the tea down on the small table in between both his chair and John's. Moriarty waltzed back into the room and took his seat once more, drinking his tea.

"Why are you here, if not to invade my home and look through all of my personal belongings?"

"Oh Sherlock, you are being so boring! Do you really not know it yet? That is so drawl! No I have to explain everything to you. What a waste of energy! And here I thought you were the great Sherlock Holmes, who could see through everything and everyone in seconds!" Moriarty laughed.

Sherlock stared at the man in front of him, wondering what he could possibly be talking about. Sherlock was becoming frustrated with himself, not understanding why his mind wasn't working the way he wanted it to. He was interrupted from his thoughts when he heard movement from upstairs, and he swore that he was going to kill those girls when Moriarty was gone, unless Moriarty killed them first. Moriarty was beaming and the movements didn't stop and soon he could hear footsteps walking down the stairs and even though he didn't look away from Moriarty, he could tell by Moriarty's facial expressions that they were clearly visible.

"Since when did you open up an adoption agency, Sherlock?" Moriarty laughed.

"Yes, highly amusing. Now you've seen them, leave my flat." Sherlock said.

"Hello girls. I'm just a friend of Sherlock's here, haven't seen him in awhile, but I forgot how much he hates surprise visits. My name is Carl Daring." Moriarty said, putting on his most friendly smile.

"Don't treat us like idiots because we're 15 years old. Do you think we wouldn't know you were lying? As much as you probably hate to admit it, but whenever you lie, you tilt your head to the side ever so slightly." Jamie said. "Your name isn't Carl Daring."

"Oh this is fun." Moriarty laughed. " Then what is it?"

"James Moriarty. But you go by Jim most of the time. Nice to finally meet you." Jamie smiled.

"Finally meet me? Why? Has Sherlock been telling stories about me?"

"Of course not. Sherlock rarely associates with us and if he ever does, it is only to tell us to shut up so he can think, or to yell at me for taking his violin." Tessa spoke.

Sherlock had the urge to get up and bang his head into the wall countless times,no matter how illogical and unproductive it was. Did these girls not realize how much danger they were putting themselves in by revealing how much they knew about Moriarty? Honestly, John's blog was bad enough, but at least most people reading it didn't really bother to care about what happened with Moriarty. These girls were immersing themselves in everything he was saying and he knew that Jamie was making mental notes of all of it and analyzing every string of words.

"Sherlock, you've got quite the group of kids here. It's almost like all of us. You, myself and John. Surely you can see it too. This one," he said, pointing to Tessa." Is more like you. Where as this one is more like your pet, John." he pointed at Dynah, who seemed confused by that accusation.

"How is she, anything like you?" Sherlock said, not wanting to give her name to the psychopath standing in the room.

"Oh, easily bored, hates nearly everything, although she hides it well. Probably trained herself to. Has a lot of built up anger that sometimes will randomly burst out if provoked. All she really needs is a push in the wrong direction and she'll be spiraling down the road of homicidal and psychopathic tendencies." Moriarty grinned.

"Can I stop being refered to as 'she'. It rather annoying. I have a name." Jamie huffed.

Sherlock could have hit her for saying that.

"And what would that be?"

"Jamie. Jamie Kent." She said, holding out her hand.

Moriarty shook her hand and began to laugh. "I like her, Sherlock. Too bad she's on your side in the game." Moriarty pouted.

"I'm not on a side. I prefer to remain neutral. Like Switzerland." Jamie said.

"Jamie, do be quiet before he starts getting ideas. John won't be happy to find out that you've been saying things like that. He'll become more concerned than before with the whole case and the testing on limbs." Sherlock said.

"Oh I must commend you on that case, Sherlock. Well I must commend all of you really. Playing the game so well. And oh look, she's already showing psychopathic tendencies." Moriarty grinned.

"What are you try to infer?" Sherlock asked.

"It's simple enough to see, Sherlock. He obviously set up the murder of those two people, but of course he doesn't like to get his hands dirty, so he pushed that priest into the direction of doing it himself. He didn't care how they were killed. Just as long as they were. Not like he could be arrested for it because it seems that he 'indirectly' convinced him to do it, even though we all know that's a lie and that he purposely pushed him to kill those people. Probably had no motive to do it either. Just pieces in the game." Jamie stated.

"Oh I really like her. Good insight into a criminal mind!" Moriarty said.

"So this whole visit, is just a warning." Sherlock said.

"But why warn us of anything?" Dynah asked.

"It's a part of the game." Tessa responded. "He see's the warning as a way to get us all the more interested. In a way to get us to play, instead of finding another way. He wants us to be interested."

"But you know Sherlock, probably better than we know him. He never gives up a game." Dynah said.

"It's to make sure that we play along too. He knew we were here before he arrived. The whole murder was-"

"To string us along and have us become involved." Dynah finished Tessa's sentence.

"Good, so you all seem to comprehend the game then? Excellent. I look forwards to playing. But remember the rules, dear children. The clock is ticking. Be sure to inform John of this won't you. I'm sure he won't like being left out of the loop. Now really, I have to go. This has been fun, Sherlock. Nice to meet all of you, Jamie. Sadly I don't have the pleasure of your names."

"Tessa Daniels." Tessa said.

"Dynah Parker." Dynah said.

"Well Dynah, Tessa, Jamie and Sherlock. It has been a the game fair and square." Moriarty laughed, walking out of the flat.

"HAVE YOU ALL COMPLETELY LOST WHATEVER SHRED OF SANITY YOU HAD LEFT? YOU JUST TOLD A PSYCHOPATH WHO YOU ARE AND PUT YOURSELF IN ALL KINDS OF DANGER THAT YOU CAN NOT DEFEND YOURSELVES FROM! ARE YOU REALLY ALL THAT IDIOTIC?" Sherlock yelled.

"Do I need to get you a paper bag?" Dynah asked. Tessa and Jamie snickered.

"Do you all not realize how dangerous that man is?" Sherlock asked.

"Of course we do. But he said we had to play by the rules. He wants us to play as equals, otherwise the game isn't fair. Giving names was the way to make the game equal." Tessa said.

"You shouldn't be involved in this. I don't need all of you distracting me while I'm working this case." Sherlock said.

"We won't be distracting you. We'll be helping you." Dynah said.

"Right now though, you need to get your mind back in order. Go visit your mind palace." Jamie smiled.

"What's going on in here?"

They all turned to look at John standing in the doorway.

"Oh nothing, John. Just that Moriarty stopped by to visit, with a game for us to play, that our guests have become a part of." Sherlock huffed.

"What! Do you realize how dangerous that is?" John yelled.

"Of course they do. But it doesn't matter now. What's done is done. Now please can you just disappear. I need to think. Dynah and Tessa can explain what happened. As for you, Jamie. I need to talk to you." Sherlock said, running his hands through his hair.

John, Tessa and Dynah all headed upstairs, as Jamie took a seat in John's chair. Sherlock looked at her and smiled a little bit.

"Do you think I wouldn't notice?" Sherlock asked.

"Notice what?" Jamie responded.

"You purposely left that piece of paper on the stairs when I told you to go up there. You wanted him to see it so he would know you were there. You planned this whole thing. You led him here so how. But what I can't understand, is for what reason?" Sherlock said.

"It's simple enough, really. I saw him the night of the murder. I didn't know he was Jim Moriarty, but I knew he had something to do with it. Of course I said nothing, not wanting to make it obvious. So I kept it all in. I would sneak out of the apartment at night, you heard me do it, and would simply walk around, knowing that he would see me come back here. So yes I did lead him here. But only because I knew he had something to do with that murder and you weren't seeing it. So I led him here, knowing that he wanted to play the game and now you have the case you were dying for. You're welcome." Jamie said, crossing her legs.

"You are not a normal teenager..." Sherlock mumbled.

"Did I ever claim to be?" Jamie snickered.

"No, you did not. It wasn't very wise of you to go hunting down a psychopath."

"What can I say? He intrigued me. Going to such lengths just to relieve boredom. Remarkable really."

"Do not idolize him. He's vain enough."

"I do not idolize psychopaths. However I can appreciate a brilliant mind when I see one."

"Yet you can't respect of appreciate mine?"

"Not when you're behaving younger than me." Jamie laughed.

"I do not act like a child." Sherlock glared.

"Sure you don't. Ask Tessa Dynah. They'll agree with me."

"It is true, Sherlock. You act like a kid who got his toys taken away." Dynah said from the stairs.

"Or like a child who didn't get what he wanted for Christmas." Tessa said, joining her.

"Do you see? We can't all be wrong here."

"You can all easily be wrong." Sherlock said.

"You're also quite stubborn, I've noticed." Jamie said, glaring.

"You three can't say anything about others being stubborn. You do whatever you want, when you want to and don't listen to anybody." Sherlock said.

"We're teenagers, we're supposed to be rebellious." Dynah smirked.

"John! This is our doom. Do you see what you have brought upon us?"

"Sherlock, shut up and just focus on getting Moriarty. Be happy the girls helped you get a case to preoccupy your idle thoughts." John yelled.

"Your right. I need to focus on the case. Where do we start?" Sherlock asked himself.

"We start in Wonderland." Dynah said.

Chapter 4

"Wonderland? What are you talking about, in Wonderland?" John asked.

"You know Wonderland? From Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland'?" Dynah said.

"I know where Wonderland is from, but it isn't necessarily possible to go into a book." John said.

"She was using as a metaphor, John. Everyone in Lewis Carrol's Wonderland was mad, except for Alice, but even that is questionable. She means that we have to start off by entering the mindset of a madman, in order to understand what Moriarty is going to do next." Sherlock said quickly. "I'm surprised you didn't understand that analogy, John. It wasn't that hard to comprehend."

"It isn't necessarily easy to tell when any of you are being literal or metaphorical." John defended.

"Moriarty isn't a normal psychopath, if there even is such a thing as a normal psychopath. When he designs these games, it's so that he wins, and we lose in the most drastic and devastating way possible. It's rather strange, the way he approaches situations. Almost like he wants us to believe that we can win, and that it is an equal chance for both sides, when really it is not because he knows everything that is going to happen and how it's going to play out. He's going to be one step ahead of us throughout this entire game, unless we can get into his head." Tessa said.

"He wanted us to play though. We have no connection to him. We barely have one to Sherlock, and no offense, Uncle John, but he isn't extremely interested in you, otherwise he would have made sure to come over here when you were here as well. There's a reason why he wanted us to be involved, and it has nothing to do with the last murder." Jamie thought out loud.

"We're somehow going to end up being intertwined in this somehow. Part of the end of it. The key that's going to allow him to win." Dynah concluded.

"Then don't be a part of this!"John yelled.

"Not that simple. If we leave the game, then he ends it by killing us. It's not really much of a choice. We just have to find a way to outsmart him by the end." Tessa said.

"You're able to say all of this about a man you've just met." John said.

"Not that hard, really. He wasn't exactly subtle in his attempts at hiding what a true psychopath he really is. Didn't take quite long to figure him out and we have also had your blog to study over for a little bit and time to look over Molly's blog as well." Dynah said quickly.

"Molly has a blog?" John and Sherlock asked.

"Yes, you'd know if you would pay some kind of attention to her or acknowledge the fact that she's alive." Jamie said,coldly.

"How do you even know who Molly is? You've never even met her." John said.

"I've met her before."Jamie said.

"When did you meet Molly?' John asked, not really comprehending everything that was going on.

"I don't sleep very well and it's stupid to just sit around the flat waiting to fall I leave and I went to 's one night. Not intentionally.I just ended up there and apparently Molly had been working late and she came out of the hospital just as I was walking past. Clearly I did talk to a few things about Jim and herself, mentioned a blog, so I looked it up and found it rather easily."

"You can't go around wondering the streets by yourself at if somebody like Moriarty were to go after you?"John said.

Sherlock looked over to Jamie and she smirked at him, before returning her focus back to John, as he continued to rant to the 3 girls. Sherlock decided to tune him out at that point, knowing that it would be counterproductive to listen to John yell words that the girls were just going to ignore anyways. Sherlock let his thoughts wander over Moriarty and what he had said. Anything could have been a clue. It could have been the strangest thing he had said in the conversation, or the most normal thing. There wasn't ever really a normal thing that came out of Moriarty's mouth so that was out of the question. Any of it, even all of it could have been a clue. But the one thing that Moriarty said that kept replaying itself over in Sherlock's mind was Moriarty's comparison between himself, Sherlock and John, towards Jamie, Tessa and Dynah. Sherlock really could not see the resemblance between Tessa and himself, but he didn't take the time to pay her any mind anyway. Now he could see the likeness between Dynah and John very easily, in fact he had noticed it as soon as he met her. Not as exceptionally brilliant as her friends, but not dimwitted like the rest of society and able to stand up for herself and fight her own battles. Jamie wasn't normal, even for someone like herself. Tessa and her were very similar, however Jamie did seem 'darker' in a sense. More morbid and Sherlock began to wonder is he should be concerned. The girl did lead a psychopath back to the flat, even if she claimed it to be for good reason. Sherlock found himself studying Jamie and Tessa over. It was obvious that Tessa had lost interest in what John was saying and was now thinking over other things. By the way her eyes were flicking back and forth, it was easy to deduce that she was coming up with plans in her head, trying to get one step ahead of everything in a way that would mostly be in her benefit, but now harm those she cared about. He could tell that she was seeing things around her, like her thoughts were visible, and she was trying to organize them and determine whether or not they were useful or going to be helpful to her. Sherlock then looked over to Jamie. She had, as well as Tessa, blocked out all that John was saying and was coming up with plans of her own. However, instead of having a blank expression like Tessa, hers seemed a little bit more, devious. Her lips were culred up into a smirk and her eyes were slightly narrowed, causing her eyebrows to crease together slightly. She wasn't thinking of a way to end the game, Sherlock could see that right away. She was planning something that was going to make it last longer and somehow change the end of it, because somehow she already knew how Moriarty was going to play.

"You're not even listening to me!" John yelled.

"Affirmative." Jamie replied.

"John they're a group of teenage girls who's attention span really only lasts around 30 seconds." Sherlock said.

"He does have a point." Dynah answered.

"I don't care what your attention span is. You are staying in my house, which means you follow my rules. You are not to leave the flat alone at night. Is that understood?" John asked.

"Negatory, Uncle John. You can't stop me anyways. You won't exert physical force because as far as you're concerned I am family, so you're afraid that you will hurt me and you can't put a gun to my head and threaten me to come back inside because I know that you won't pull the trigger anyways. So really you have nothing to hold me here. I didn't even bring anything sentimental with me that you can hold against me." Jamie lied.

Sherlock held the piece of paper that he had picked up off of the ground that belonged to Jamie and began to play with it in his hands. Jamie saw this out of the corner of her eyes and tried not to show Sherlock how frustrated she was that he still had it within his possession. John, irritation evident from his body language rushed upstairs, not wanting to deal with his troublesome guests. Tessa and Dynah looked at each other before shrugging their shoulders and going into the kitchen, probably to do their own experiments.

"Give it back." Jamie said.

"Why should I? After all it could be the one thing I can use as persuasion over you, in order for you to stop keeping secrets from John, Tessa and Dynah, but more importantly me." Sherlock said.

"And what secrets am I keeping from the great Sherlock Holmes?" Jamie asked.

"You know how Moriarty's whole game is going to play out. First of all I want you to tell me how you know, where you obtained this information, and what were you planning in order to get it to turn out in our favour." Sherlock said.

"It's funny how you assume I'm on your side."

"Do I not have good reason to assume such?"

"No you do not. You heard what I said to Moriarty. I'm neutral. Well so far. I'll be helping you, yes. But don't expect me to tell you what I have planned. It's all a part of my own game." Jamie grinned.

"Perhaps Moriarty was right about you." Sherlock concluded.

"About me being similar to him. Oh he was very right, Sherlock. All it would really take is one thing to push me down the wrong path and I would become just like him. However I chose not to be pushed that way anymore, which also shows how different I can be from him. It all depends on which side I chose. Who I think is right."

"Don't you think I'm right. Using my gifts, my knowledge, to help people I don't even care about."

"That's the whole problem, Sherlock. You don't care about them. It seems to me, that you mostly do this,solve cases, for yourself. To prove something to yourself. It isn't for anybody else. Just you. But what can I expect, you are a high functioning sociopath. I can't expect you to care for others."

"No. You can't."

"Give me back my paper now."

"I'll give it back if you tell me what it is."

"Why don't you just look?"

"Boring."

"It's a note from my Grandmother that she gave me when I was 8, after she gave me her charm bracelet. I never risk bringing the charm bracelet anywhere, afraid that I might drop it, so I bring the note with me."

"Your Grandmother isn't dead though." Sherlock stated.

"You're right, but I never see her anymore really. So that's my way of having her with me at all times, and I would appreciate if you would give it back now."

"That's something else." Sherlock said, handing back the note.

"What?"

"That makes you different from Moriarty."

"Whatever, Sherlock." Jamie said, walking into the kitchen.

The next few days on Baker Street were uneventful and Sherlock could not possibly understand why. Moriarty wanted a game, but why had he not instigated one? Surely he was ready to play, and so were the other residents of 221B Baker Street, but still ,nothing. Even the girls were beginning to not act like their usual selves. Dynah would spend most of the day staring out the window, almost as if she was waiting for something to happen. Tessa began to begin scavenging through every book in the flat, trying to find any tiny piece of information from Moriarty's words that could have possibly been a clue, even though Sherlock knew Moriarty had not left any. Jamie was continuing her experiments, however instead of doing them well, they ended with fires, explosions, or her becoming stressed, destroying the experiment before leaving the flat. John seemed to be the most calm of them all, not really caring for the case or the game. Sherlock found himself envious, wishing that he could just put all his thoughts away and not care, but that would require becoming a simpleton and he was not prepared to do that. Jamie had already gone out after blowing up one of her experiments, but suddenly she ran back inside the flat.

"Guys, we have to go now!"

"Jamie, what do you need us for?" Sherlock asked, boredom lacing his voice.

"Oh I need you because I can't decide what shoes to wear on a date! What the hell do you think I need you for, Sherlock! Moriarty! He started the game!" Jamie yelled.

Everyone's heads shot up when Jamie finished that sentence. A small smile creeped it's way upon Sherlock's face. They all looked at each other and instantly stood up. Getting ready to go and see what Moriarty had done. Sherlock ran into his room to go and get changed out of his house coat and pajama's and John, Tessa, and Dynah all ran to get their coats on to go outside. Sherlock ran out of his room once he was changed and slipped his coat and scarf on.

"Where exactly are we headed, Jamie?"

"Piccadilly Circus."

"A tube station? Why the hell would he attack a tube station?" Dynah asked.

"Did I say attacked, now let's go!" Jamie said.

All of them ran out of the flat quickly and got onto the tube station on Baker Street to get to Piccadilly Circus. Once they got off of the tube and walked through the station, with Jamie guiding them, they found what they were looking the wall of the station was a riddle. It read:

" Round and Round the Radical Road, the Radical Rascal Ran. How many "R's" are in IT? Tell me if you can." -J.M xx

"What the hell are we supposed to make of that?" Dynah asked.

"It doesn't even make sense geographically. Radical Road is found in Edinburgh, Scotland. No where near us." Tessa said.

"Then why use this riddle?" John asked.

"The only part that matters is the line ' How many "R's" are in IT?' There are 8 "r's" in the entire riddle. However it also asks how many "r's" are in IT. 0. 80. Shit..." Jamie said.

"He also told us where to find the first victim. When we first met Jim Moriarty he pretended to be "Jim from I.T". Worked at St. Bart's. The first body or bodies are going to be there." Sherlock said.

They all quickly rushed back to take the tube to St. Paul's Station, which was one of the closest to St. Bart's. Once they arrived at St. Paul's they all rushed over to 's quickly. As they were running into the hospital, they ran right into Molly.

"Oh! H-hi Sherlock. John." She said "And Jamie!? How do you know Sherlock and John."

"Family friend of John's. Thought I mentioned it, perhaps I didn't. Not important now.I'll talk to you later tonight, alright? But right now, we need to go!" Jamie said, running past her.

"Do you really talk to her that often? Do you even sleep at all?" Dynah asked.

" 's why I drink so much tea." Jamie snickered.

"Maybe you should try sleeping pills?" Tessa suggested.

"I think I built up an immunity to let's all shut up and save our breath for when we find the body or bodies."

They continued to run throughout the hospital until they reached where they knew Moriarty wanted them to be. They were correct. In front of them lied the body of a woman, obviously a doctor from her apparel. There was a message written in blood next to her, and it seemed as though she wrote it in her own hand, or rather she was forced to. The cut on her wrist was the source of the blood. Otherwise it was obvious that her neck had been snapped. Nothing too fancy. The message read:

" I leave play houses looking like the end of Macbeth. -J.M xx"

"Is it only me who thinks he's starting to develop a creepy obsession with Scotland?" Dynah asked.

"It is strange that none of the clues relate directly to England." John said.

"We don't have to focus on the part that Macbeth was from Scotland. What we need to focus on is Macbeth. Macbeth was the play that play houses used to perform when they were going out of business. It was also known as the cursed play because they thought that they used actual witches chants." Jamie said.

"So all we need to do is find a theatre that's about to close down." Tessa said.

"There isn't one. At least not that any of them have announced yet and it wouldn't be very productive to go around asking everything theatre if they are going to close down. We'll have to wait and Moriarty knows this." Sherlock said, looking at his phone.

"I hate that you have the internet whenever you want it." Jamie said.

"We should call Lestrade. Tell him about Piccadilly and here." John said.

John quickly phoned Lestrade and told him what had happened. As they waited for Lestrade and the rest of Scotland Yard to arrive, Molly walked into the room, looking a little more than shocked to see the dead body on the floor.

"OH!Oh my God!" she exclaimed.

"Hello, Molly. Oh don't worry, Scotland Yard is coming by to look at the body. You need not be upset.." Sherlock said.

"Sherlock, this woman was my colleague. Of course I'm going to be upset." Molly said, fighting back tears.

"It's alright, Molly. Lestrade will take of it. I'm sorry." John said, being the comfort that Sherlock couldn't be.

"You know you could be a little bit nicer to her. She just lost somebody close to her." Dynah mumbled to Sherlock.

"I informed of the situation. Isn't that kind enough?"

"You really do not have good social skills. If you did, you might get your answers faster." Tessa said, shaking her head.

"I get my answers quick enough for my liking without having to get them from others."

"Sherlock, John, what are you doing letting these girls see this? They're only-"Molly started.

"15. I'm aware, and let's just say that I need them in order to solve this case Molly. They know what they are doing and are willingly aiding me. Besides this isn't the first body they've ever seen before."

"I regret letting them come here more each day." John sighed.

"Oh bloody hell! Why are these kids back here again?" Lestrade yelled from behind John and Molly. "Christ, are you trying to mentally scar them, Sherlock?"

"Nice to see you too, Inspector." Dynah said, looking irritated.

"Look, I can't allow kids to be on a crime scene. I could lose my job for this." Lestrade said.

"You could also lose your job for letting me be at the crime scene. They stay." Sherlock demanded.

"Fine. But if Anderson and Donovan find out about this, it's going to be my head. Then nobody can save your ass." Lestrade huffed out.

"Anderson and Donovan don't need to know about them. I think they would be rather angry finding out that 3 teenage girls could do their jobs better than they can." Sherlock smirked and Tessa, Dynah and Jamie all began to snicker.

"John, please get Molly out of here. She doesn't need to see this anymore."

John led Molly out of the room and away from the crime scene, only to come back a few moments later. Lestrade and some other forensics officers were now in the room examining the body and taking various photographs.

"I need you to explain to me what happened. At Piccadilly and here." Lestrade said.

"I think it's only fair for the girls to share it. They came to most of the conclusions on their own." John said.

"I asked Sherlock, John." Lestrade said.

"John does have a point, Inspector. They did a lot of this on their own. Not much was taken from me, I have to give them credit for that. Jamie was the one who found the message at Piccadilly Station."

Jamie, Tessa, and Dynah went along to tell Lestrade about all that they had seen while Sherlock and John mostly stayed in the background, listening to what they were saying, Sherlock occasionally inputting his own thoughts. However neither John nor him could deny that most of what they had accomplished today was done by the girls. Perhaps having them on Baker Street wouldn't be so terrible after all.

"Alright, thank you for the information. We'll take the body away from here. You can all go home now, but don't let Donovan or Anderson see you!"Lestrade said.

They all left the room, Jamie popping by Molly's office to say a quick good bye before they headed outside. Into the plain view of the rest of Scotland Yard. Of course the girls knew exactly what Sherlock had planned, and laughed a little bit at the thought of it , but John seemed confused and slightly panicked.

"Sherlock, Lestrade specifically told us to not be seen." John said.

"Have I ever really listened to Lestrade?" Sherlock asked,smirking.

"What the hell is going on here?" Donovan yelled.

"Nice to see you as well, Sally." Sherlock smiled.

"What is this, Sherlock? Bringing kids onto a crime scene? What are you, some kind of sick pervert now?" she yelled

"Honestly, Sherlock, what is the matter with you?" Anderson said.

"My problem, Anderson, is that you still insist on speaking no matter how many times I inform you that you are an idiot and need to stop spreading your idiocy onto poor, innocent children such as these." Sherlock spat at him, some sarcasm being used at the end of his sentence.

"Girls, I'm warning you to stay away from him, alright? He brings nothing but trouble." Donovan said.

"He's not the kind of person you want to be around." Anderson spoke as well, Sherlock rolling his eyes.

"Your mouthwash." Jamie smiled.

"What?" Donovan said.

"Both of your mouthwash. It's the same." Tessa grinned.

"Next time, if you're trying to be discrete, one of you use toothpaste, the other use mouthwash." Dynah smiled.

Donovan and Anderson's jaws both dropped in awe at what the girls had said and John and Sherlock found it hard to stifle their laughter.

"Oh and next time, don't try to tell me who I should be around. I know more about you in 2 minutes than you will know about that body in 10 years. So please do keep your comments to yourself and try not to get our way while we work on this case." Jamie smiled.

With that they all returned home to Baker Street. This being the first night since she arrived where Jamie actually fell asleep and the flat was now only filled with the sounds of Sherlock softly playing his violin and John typing on his computer. Sherlock and John both could not help the small smiles that were appearing on their faces as they thought over the nights events. John thought about how they had stood up to Donovan and Anderson, knowing full well how much trouble they could get into seeing as the both of them had positions of authority and how they had called them out on their mouthwash. Sherlock thought about all the clues, how they were easily able to break them down in their heads and just remember things so well and using them to directly find what Moriarty had meant. It was truly brilliant for somebody their age to know so much, though he couldn't help but be worried that Moriarty had something planned for them when they really shouldn't be a part of this in the first place. But nevertheless, those girls, no matter how annoying or positively destructive they could be, were slowly starting to become a good addition to the flat of 221B Baker Street.

Chapter 5

Two weeks passed by and nothing involving Moriarty and his game seemed to be arising. This was causing a lot of tension within the flat, because all of them just wanted to know what was going to happen next. Sherlock and John began to take on other cases, in order to keep themselves occupied as they wait for Moriarty's game to continue. They were all constantly checking to see if there were any theatre's about to close down, any announcement of any kind, but still there was nothing. What could Moriarty be waiting for?Why leave the clue if nothing was going to happen right away. It had nearly been a 2 weeks since the last clue was left. One months since the girls had arrived in the flat. Sherlock noticed now that Dynah seemed to spend most of her free time with John, who had now decided was the appropriate time to teach her how to shoot a gun properly. Sherlock debated teaching Tessa how to play the violin, if only to relieve some boredom, however it seemed now that she had taught herself. Even went and bought her own violin,though she still occasionally took his, claiming that the quality of his was better than her own. Jamie spent most her time out of the flat, only returning for a few minutes before leaving again. John was against it, but he couldn't very well force her to stay. Sherlock was partially curious as to where she went everyday , however not curious enough to actually try and find out. He just let her do whatever she wanted. She wasn't in his way, which was better for him and allowed him more time to think. Jamie came back into the flat, breaking Sherlock's concentration as he played his violin. He looked towards the door, and Jamie was slipping off her coat and putting it on the coat hanger, before yelling loudly.

"Tessa! Dynah! We have to go!" Jamie yelled.

"Go where?" Sherlock asked.

"It's nothing. You needn't concern yourself with it." Jamie said, watching Tessa and Dynah get ready to leave.

"We'll be back in a few hours." Tessa yelled as they all ran out the door.

Sherlock watched the door shut, wondering what those girls were doing, but he knew it was something he couldn't get immersed in. They were planning something. He didn't know what it was,but it was going to change the game. He knew Jamie was planning to change the game, and he knew that Tessa and Dynah were planning on changing it as well. The question was how they were going to change it, and if it was going to be for the betterment of them all. Jamie, Tessa, and Dynah were walking down the streets of London, heading towards the Underground.

"Are you sure that's how it's going to end?" Tessa asked. "It seems to me that nobody wins if that's how Moriarty is going to play it out."

"It is and it's going to involve us. I don't want it to because that's going to be the key that makes Sherlock and John lose the game. We need to find a way to change it. To somehow get Moriarty to change the ending." Jamie said.

"How are we going to do that? He's insane. It's not like we can go up and ask him to change this." Dynah said.

"No we can't just ask him to change it. But there is something that we can do. It's not going to be fun. In fact the possibility of one of us or all of us getting killed is about 95%." Jamie said.

"So we have a 5% chance? Brilliant." Dynah huffed.

"Better than no chance right?" Jamie smiled.

The girls returned back to the flat later that night. John was seemingly absent and Sherlock was resting on the couch, with nicotine patches covering his arms. Jamie, Tessa, and Dynah tried to be as quiet as possible and move throughout the apartment.

"You were gone for an awfully long time." Sherlock said. "John went out looking for you."

"Oh well, we'll apologize when he gets back." Dynah said

"He's going to ask you questions about where you went and obviously you didn't think of coming up with an alibi. If you had you would have brought something back to somehow trick him into believing you did something else, besides what you actually did." Sherlock said.

"All we did was go around shopping." Tessa said.

"Where are your bags?" Sherlock asked.

"In the hall." Dynah smirked and went to grab them.

"That isn't all you did. It would take you only a short amount of time to that specific amount of shopping, seeing as all of the stores are close to each other." Sherlock said.

"Is it a crime now to just hang out with your friends? After all that is what normal teenagers do." Jamie laughed.

"You three are anything but normal." Sherlock glared.

"Whatever, Sherlock. Believe what you want." Dynah huffed and went upstairs with Tessa, and Jamie went into the kitchen.

John burst into the flat not to long after they had come back and Sherlock looked at him. He was obviously out of breath, probably from running around looking for the girls and being unsuccessful in finding them, which was obviously true because they were here.

"I can't find them anywhere! Where the hell could they have gone and why didn't they tell me they were going to be out this long!" John yelled.

"Oh relax John, they came back to the flat about a half an hour ago." Sherlock said.

"Why didn't you text me?"

"The girls took my phone. Don't know where it is." Sherlock stated.

"TESSA! DYNAH! JAMIE! GET DOWN HERE NOW!" John yelled.

The girls walked into the room, Tessa with a book under her arm and Dynah was holding an exacto-knife and a stick, probably making a miniature spear. Jamie came out of holding a beaker of sulfuric acid.

"Where the hell have you been all day? Do you know how worried I was? You can't just go out and do whatever you want!" John yelled.

"All we did was go shopping, Uncle John." Jamie said. "Sorry we didn't call but we can't very well use our cellphones here. Roaming charges and all."

"You can't go walking around London as if it's the safest place for you, because as was proven by all the bodies and psychopaths you've seen, it isn't!"

"All they did was go shopping, John. You're acting as if they sought Moriarty out in their spare time. They're not that idiotic." Sherlock said, getting annoyed with John's yelling.

"We'll be back on time next time Uncle John, I promise."

"Maybe we should get you a phone. At least while you stay here, so if you're in any trouble you can get a hold of us." John thought out loud.

"Good luck with that. You want to get 3 teenage girls cell phones. I don't think you have enough money to be able to afford that Uncle John."

"If I can afford to live with Sherlock, then I can afford it. I'll pick them up later. Do not make international calls on them!" John warned.

John went upstairs into his room, the 3 girls just looking at each other before shrugging their shoulders and going back to what they had been doing previously before John's interruption. Sherlock sat on that couch most of the day, simply going through his thoughts. The girls were quiet today, probably still rather stressed out and wanting quiet just as much as he did. John did go out and get the phones for the girls, but they seemed disinterested in them. Jamie looked as if she wanted to dip her's into the sulfuric acid she was holding in her hand. Dynah was scrolling through something on her phone, looking disinterested in whatever it was until she shot up from where she was sitting.

"Sherlock, what if it isn't a theatre being closed that we need to look for?" Dynah asked.

"What are you talking about? Macbeth was the clue that told us that it was a theatre about to be closed down." Sherlock said.

"Maybe it wasn't Macbeth that we needed to focus on. What if it was a place where Shakespearean plays were shown most often. A theatre that was closed down." Dynah asked.

"Shakespeare's Globe? But how do you know that the body will be there?"

"What's the date today?" Dynah asked.

"May the 16th."

"Macbeth was written in 1605. It's the 16th day of the 5th month. 1605."

"John! Tessa! Jamie! We have to go now!" Sherlock yelled.

They all rushed out of the flat as fast as possible and got a cab to take them to Shakespeare's Globe, knowing full well that it would take them about 17 minutes to get there if traffic was light, which knowing London. It wouldn't be. Sherlock estimated about 25 minutes in the cab before they could get to The Globe. When they did finally arrive, they all got out of the cab and ran into the theatre as fast as possible. No plays were going on today it seemed, which was extremely odd. The place was dark, like nobody had been there at all today. Sherlock moved quickly throughout the theatre, with the rest of them following behind him. They all moved quickly and Sherlock led them all towards the stage of the theatre. The room was still and it seemed as though there couldn't be anything possibly living in this room, aside from the 5 of them. Then suddenly, the stage was lit up, the lights causing them all the shut their eyes, seeing as they had not adjusted to the light yet. When they finally did open their eyes, the light was still too strong for them to be able to see anything but each other.

"And welcoming to the stage is the magnificent Sherlock Holmes, and his team of sidekicks. Can everyone give a round of applause?" Moriarty's voice announced loudly.

The room was quiet, and they all looked at each other, not knowing what to expect from Moriarty. Being locked in a playhouse with a madman wasn't eactly their plan when they had come here. It was more to find a body and then to phone Scotland Yard.

"Oh no. Looks like the audience isn't responding well." Moriarty laughed.

The blinding light was turned off and now the entire room was lit and they could all see the audience now. Every single one of them was dead. Some of them in their seats and others scattered across the floor. Some were even wearing costumes. The actors. Sherlock counted roughly 13 bodies. Not as many people as he thought there would be. They were able to see Moriarty now, standing up in the balcony levels of the playhouse.

"Hi!" he said, grinning.

"Wow, this guy is crazier than a nut bar." Dynah said.

"It took you this long to figure that out?" Tessa said.

"No, just needed the right opportunity to say it." Dynah retorted.

"So, how does it feel, Sherlock? Knowing that I have every piece of this game planned out from beginning to end, and you have to rely on kids to make sure that you can actually participate? Really, Sherlock. I expected better from you. But as for you girls, I must say I am thoroughly impressed. Extremely impressed, although Jamie, you should learn not to go off by yourself. There were countless times where I could have just shot you and nobody would know except from a phone call."

"You wouldn't kill me. That would be too boring. We both know that." Jamie said.

"I guess your right. I mean what is the stage without it's players?" Moriarty laughed.

"A boring wooden platform that's support system is some what questionable?" Dynah said.

"Correct!" Moriarty said in his high-pitched voice.

"What do you want, Moriarty?" Sherlock asked. "We're all here now. Tell us what you could possibly obtain from all of this!"

"I told you, Sherlock. I'm going to burn the heart out of you. In order to do that I need to make this whole game that much more personal. You can deny it all you want to, Sherlock, but you have feelings, and they are going to be your downfall. That's the whole fun in this game. If you lose, then you lose everything, but the same result will happen even if you win. Which of course you won't because I control everything here."

"You seem very sure of yourself, Moriarty. But you never know. People could just come on by and mess up your entire plan." Jamie said, smiling at him.

"And how do you plan on doing that, Jamie Kent?"

"Who said I had anything planned? You shouldn't just assume things, Moriarty."

"You really did join the wrong side. If you were on my side you would be having a lot more fun." Moriarty pouted.

"I'm not on a side. How many times do I have to say that!" she huffed.

"What about them, Moriarty? If I lose, what will you do with them? John, well I know you don't particularly care for John, but what about Tessa, Jamie, and Dynah?"

"Sherlock, maybe you should shut up and not put ideas in his head?" John said, obviously trying to protect the girls.

"Oh I don't know. I could kill them. Not sure yet. All depends on the end, doesn't it, Sherlock? But I don't understand the point of killing them. They could be useful later on. I'll be sure to ponder over that thought, Sherlock. Now really I do have to go. The game is still going after all and I have to make sure that I continue to be one step ahead of you. Until next time, Sherlock Holmes. Nice to see you girls again." Moriarty said, grinning and then walking away.

"Sherlock, why would you put that thought into his head? Do you not care about the girls safety at all?" John said, keeping his voice hushed, in case Moriarty could still hear them.

"I did that to ensure their safety. He just admitted to not wanting to kill them because he finds them interesting. They'll be able to get past him a lot easier than we will." Sherlock said.

"We better phone Scotland Yard." Tessa said, trying to change the subject.

When Scotland Yard finally did arrive, Lestrade looked extremely stressed and was about to make another comment about the girls being there, before Sherlock cut him off before he could even say one word.

"They are here, and are helping me. Stop bringing it up. It's not going to change the fact that they are helping me anyways." Sherlock said.

"I just don't understand why they have to be on the crime scene. This isn't something kids like them should be seeing! Not to mention that Anderson and Donovan are now out to get you even more because you've brought kids into crime scenes and other they keep bringing up child endangerment!"

"I wouldn't consider this child endangerment seeing as the first crime scene we went to we sneaked in and it's not like he invited us. Then the next two we just happened to be with them when they found the bodies and obviously the police would need to get statements from us. We have every right to be here." Tessa said.

"I dare you to try and explain that to them." Lestrade sighed. "Now what happened here? Last time you said that the bodies would be found in a theatre that was being closed down."

"This theatre was closed down, multiple times in fact. In the past. Macbeth was also a clue as well. Macbeth was written in 1605. It's the 16th day of the 5th month. It all adds up together." Dynah said.

"Why is there no clue this time? He left one at the last crime scene." Lestrade asked.

"He didn't leave one because it would make the game to easy." Tessa stated.

"I don't understand how killing 80 people is going to be easy." Lestrade said.

"Oh for a psychopath it is rather easy. All they have to do is plan, kill, plan and then kill again."Jamie said.

"Listen, it is starting to look a bit suspicious that you are all finding the bodies. Even the girls are starting to be suspected slightly. Try next time to make sure that you have an alibi for all of these murders, just so you can't be charged." Lestrade said.

"Let your idiot cops say whatever they want about us. Makes no difference to me. They're wrong anyways. Now let's get back to Baker Street."Sherlock said, walking away from Lestrade.

They all went back to Baker Street, not really sure what to make out of the event of the day. John was mostly worried for the girls safety, knowing that their parents had entrusted John to take care of them and make sure that they stayed out of he had gotten them tangled up into a murderous game of cat and mouse with a psychopathic killer. Sherlock seemed to find John's distress humorous, as did the girls it seemed.

"Honestly, John. I don't know what you expected to happen when you decided to let them stay here. Did you expect them to not become involved? It was bound to happen eventually. If anything it is there families who are to blame if something is to happen to them because they agreed to let them stay with John Watson and Sherlock Holmes." Sherlock stated, playing with the strings on his violin.

"He does have a point, Uncle John. They can't necessarily blame you. I mean they're the ones who let us stray here in the first place." Jamie laughed, dropping down onto the couch.

"It's not okay! I'm supposed to be keeping you our of trouble! Not sending you into it!"

"Then just don't tell them. What they don't know won't hurt them. As long as we come back home when we need to." Dynah said.

"What point would that be at, John? You never did inform me." Sherlock said, looking away from his violin.

"How do I explain this without it ending in you giving me a rant?" John asked himself.

"Oh can I tell him! I like to cause him strife." Jamie smiled.

"This is why Moriarty thinks you're similar to him." Sherlock pointed out.

"We're going to be staying here until we're done school!" Jamie grinned.

"High-school?" Sherlock asked.

"Yes high-school. As well as University." Tessa beamed.

"We got accepted into a special program. Only going home once it's done."

"Why did you tell me this John! If I had known-" Sherlock started.

"You would have said no, which is exactly why I didn't tell you!" John said.

"Do you want me to never be able to think properly again?" Sherlock asked.

"You act as though they haven't been helpful at all this whole time!" John yelled.

"That's besides the point, John."

"I'm feeling rather under appreciated." Tessa whispered to Dynah and Jamie, and they all began laughing.

"Oh it's okay, Uncle John. If we annoy Sherlock so much than we can just move out and find another place to live. Do you think Moriarty would let us live with him if we helped him." Jamie asked Dynah and Tessa, all of them laughing together.

"That isn't funny." Sherlock and John said.

"Really? I think it is. I see 3 people laughing and 2 people who aren't. That means 60% of the people in this room are laughing. Only 40% are not. Thus it's funny because a higher percentage of people are laughing." Jamie smirked.

"Do you see this? This is what we are going to have to live with until they graduate University!" Sherlock yelled.

"Not necessarily. We could live on residence if we had the money, or we could move in when and if we get a boyfriend, though that's not really a priority for us at the moment." Tessa said, shrugging her shoulders.

"We'll be out of your hair when we graduate, Sherlock. Don't worry you little knowledge filled head." Dynah laughed.

Sherlock groaned and began to play his violin loudly in order to drown out all of their voices. The fact that the girls were going to be staying with them until the end of their University courses had most definitely put Sherlock on edge. He wasn't prepared to share his apartment with 3 teenage girls for what could perhaps be years to come. Obviously they would move out when they got into University, but still that was a good 2 years from now. Maybe even 3 before they actually moved out, because some do not move out until their first year is over. Though the girls were easy enough to get a long with and he could at least have an intellectually stimulating conversation with them, he wasn't sure that he could have 5 people living in his flat that was made for 2. Perhaps he could convince Mrs. Hudson to give them one of the other flats for free. That way they could still visit John and be out of his way unless he needed them for something. That could quite possibly be the answer. However it would have to wait until after the game with Moriarty was done because he needed the girls all the time right now, just in case Moriarty left a clue. He knew the rules of Moriarty's game and he knew that the girls had to participate in it. Otherwise they were all dead. Sherlock found it amusing how Moriarty was so focused on killing him, but not the girls. Especially since he had said that Tessa was much like Sherlock himself and that Dynah was like John. Moriarty probably thought in some twisted way that he could morph Jamie into a younger version of himself.

"Sherlock, what are you thinking about?" Tessa asked.

"Moriarty's intentions towards the 3 of you. Why do you ask?"

"I asked because that's what I believed you were thinking about. Why do you care about that anyways?"

"Moriarty is my problem to deal with, and now the 3 of you are somehow becoming a part of it. I don't want him to try to use you to get to me, or to use me to get to you three. Everything he does and says means something. He doesn't just spit out mindless words. He plans everything. He knows what he is saying is right. Which is why I get so wrapped up in his words because I have to analyze every single one of them, and today when he said that you could be useful and that he did not see the point in killing you, I knew that he wouldn't. There's something else, bigger than just getting to me that he has planned and it somehow involves the 3 of you. I just can't figure out what it is." Sherlock said.

"Maybe he wants you to over analyze it because he knows you won't find the answer. He also said that he has to see how the end turns out before he makes a decision. Even he doesn't know what he's going to do after the game." Tessa said.

"I would honestly prefer if he killed us, rather than turn us into psychopaths." Dynah said.

"I'm already on my way to becoming a psychopath so it makes no difference to me." Jamie said,texting on her phone.

"Of course it makes no difference to you, Switzerland." Dynah glared.

Jamie snickered and then looked at her phone, before standing up and grabbing her coat. "I'm going out. Don't expect me back until late." she said before slipping out the door.

Sherlock waited a good half an hour before getting up and slipping on his coat and scarf. Tessa and Dynah looked to Sherlock, then to each other, back to looking at Sherlock.

"Where are you going?" Dynah asked.

"Where do you think I'm going?" Sherlock asked."I'm going to find out where Jamie is going and who she is meeting up with, and I know that she is meeting up with somebody because of the oh so discreet way that she got a text and then left the apartment all of a sudden."

"How the hell are you going to find her? She could be anywhere in the city!" Tessa exclaimed.

"She could be anywhere. But she isn't." Sherlock laughed and with that, he slipped out of the flat.

Chapter 6

Sherlock was not an idiot and he wasn't going to allow anyone to believe that he was. He didn't trust the girls, especially Jamie, seeing as she was the one who would always disappear at the most random of times. When John had gone out and bought the phones for the girls, he had placed tracking devices in all of them in order to find out where they would disappear to throughout the day. Sherlock hailed down a cab and got in, turning on the tracking system. It took a minute but soon enough the device was able to pinpoint Jamie's exact location. Westminster Abbey. He told the cabbie to take him there and judging on traffic and distance, it would take about 19 minutes to get there. As the cab drove along the streets of London, Sherlock noticed something about the tracking device. It began moving around, unable to find Jamie's exact location. She must have hacked into the tracking system and made the signal bounce off of different satellites, making her impossible to track. When the cab pulled up to Westminster Abbey, Sherlock quickly rushed inside with a large crowd, avoiding having to pay to get in, which in his mind would be a complete waste of money if he was only here to find out what Jamie was doing. The abbey was crowded, mostly with tourists, which was clearly evident by their attire and their actions. For example the man wearing the London hat. Obviously his first trip out of his own country, very excited and he had even bought a head set to listen to while he was in the abbey. Sherlock didn't understand how anybody could listen to those things. All they did was feed people information in a monotone voice that they could all figure out so much faster if they actually bothered to read the information plaques around them, or even just to read the graves. Sherlock maneuvered his way through the crowds and looked through the entirety of the abbey, not once seeing Jamie. He tried to analyze the people in the crowd, to see if any of them showed similar characteristics to Jamie, in hopes that he would find her. He knew that she was meeting somebody, so she should still be here. He couldn't see anybody that shared any similar characteristics with her and then his phone began to beep, indicating that the tracker had located Jamie. Sherlock pulled the phone out of his jacket pocket and could have screamed if he didn't think it would cause him a lot of unnecessary attention. The tracking device had pinpointed Jamie's location, at 221B Baker Street. Sherlock rushed out of the abbey and got a cab to take him back to the flat. His frustration was evident in every step that he took and when he walked back into the flat, all he saw was Jamie sitting in his chair, drinking a cup of tea.

"Oh Sherlock, you're back." She grinned.

Sherlock took a minute to compose himself, not wanting to show and emotional reaction that would make it obvious how angry he was. He walked over to his violin and picked it up and began to play it while looking through the window the peered down onto the street. He began to compose music, trying to clear all of his thoughts. Jamie knew that he was tracking her, which also means that she was aware that he knows she'll be lying if she decides to come up with an excuse for John. That also means that she expects him to not tell John. Sherlock chuckled lightly and began to play his violin as Jamie continued to sit there drinking her tea, eventually pulling out a book. Dynah came into the room as well as Tessa. Dynah was playing a game on John's laptop and Tessa had picked up her own violin and joined Sherlock, beginning to follow along to what he was playing. Suddenly, Sherlock's phone lit up. He stopped playing and picked it up. It was Lestrade.

'Another message for you. Hyde Park. Near the Dorchester Hotel.'

"John! We have to go! Moriarty's left another message for us." Sherlock shouted.

They all rushed to put their coats on and get down onto the street to hail a taxi in order to get to Hyde Park. Tessa, Dynah and John ran out of the apartment, Jamie and Sherlock following behind, before Jamie turned around quickly, stopping Sherlock from leaving the flat.

"Oh by the way, Westminster Abbey is really such a beautiful place, although not when there are tourists blocking you from what you are hoping to see" she laughed, slipping out of the flat. Sherlock followed behind, seeing that there was already a cab waiting for them. He got in and told the cabbie where to take them. It would take just about 11 minutes to get there. Once they arrived, it was easy enough to make out where they were supposed to go, due to the crime scene tape around the scene, but so were the figures of Anderson and Donovan.

"Oh look, it's London's favourite psychopath." Anderson chuckled.

"We've been over this, Anderson. I'm not a psychopath, I'm a high functioning sociopath. Stop being an idiot by forcing me to repeat it." Sherlock glared.

"We told you not involve these kids, Sherlock." Donovan glared.

"The only reason that you are getting mad is the fact that they are with me and they are able to do your job better than you and Lestrade trusts them more, and they're half your age." Sherlock defended.

"You think we're jealous of these teenage psychopaths?" Anderson asked.

"Technically we can't be classified as psychopaths because of the hormonal changes that occur in humans when they are teenagers that cause them to have chemical imbalances within the brain that affect their mood and the way they think. If anything, they can only truly be classified as a budding psychopath." Jamie said.

"Even being called a budding psychopath is a long way from what we are." Tessa said. "We're just curious in the most morbid fashion, I guess."

"Now step aside, we were all invited by Lestrade. This message is for us." Sherlock said, holding up the crime scene tape in order to let John, Tessa, Dynah and Jamie through.

They walked towards where Lestrade was standing, wondering where Moriarty could have left a clue in a park. It was pretty evident to see where when they got close enough. The grass in the park was burned to form a message in the grass. It read:

"My God, my god, look not so fierce on me!

Adders and serpents, let me breathe a while!

Ugly hell, gape not! come not, Lucifer!

I'll burn my books!-Ah, Mephistopheles!-J.M xx"

"What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean,Sherlock. What am I supposed to make of that?"

"Is it bad that this kind of reminds me of Dare Devil and the Crow?" Dynah whispered to Tessa and Jamie, who tried to stifle their laughter.

"What does this even mean?" Lestrade yelled.

"The real question is, why did he use that quote?" Jamie said.

"Quote?" Lestrade asked.

"It's taken from Christopher Marlowe's The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. It's based of the German legend Faust a man sells his soul to the devil, in order to become to most powerful man in the world." Jamie answered. "I'm surprised you don't know him. He's the father of English Tragedy."

"I'm impressed, Jamie. When did you read that? Not necessarily a common thing to read amongst teens these days." Sherlock said.

"Last summer. Now why did he use this quote?" Jamie thought out loud.

"Perhaps Moriarty sees himself as Mephistopheles." Tessa suggested.

"Mephistopheles?" John asked.

"He was the devil's minion in the play. A demon. He was the one who was always by Faustus' side. The one who convinced him to sign the contract with the devil." Tessa stated.

"But wouldn't he see himself as Lucifer? I mean, the guy is extremely vain and has the wrath of the devil. Wouldn't that make more sense?" Dynah asked.

"Mephistopheles holds all the power in the play. Even though Faustus summons him, he's the one who persuades him make the contract. The one who is always there to push a dark influence on everything Faustus does." Sherlock said. "Lucifer is not nearly as important in this play. In the end, it is Mephistopheles who takes Faustus to hell." Sherlock stated.

"That means that we are Faustus." Dynah said.

"It would seem most likely for that to be the case." Sherlock said.

"But how does this lead us anywhere. We may be Faustus, but how does that tell us when the next murder is going to happen, or where?" John asked.

"It doesn't tell us when or where. It tells us something us, completely unrelated to this case or the murders. It tells us that he is influencing Faustus in a dark and evil way." Sherlock said.

"But he isn't tempting any of you-"Lestrade started.

"He may not be influencing anybody yet, but he plans to. Whoever that person is, they are Faustus." Sherlock said, eyes widening in realization.

"Jamie, give me your phone." Sherlock said suddenly.

"What? Why?' Jamie asked.

"I need to see something. Unlock it and give it to me,now!" Sherlock yelled.

Jamie quickly unlocked her phone and handed it to Sherlock, who immediately began searching through her messages, knowing that he would find Moriarty talking to her somewhere in there.

"You can't honestly think that she's the one Moriarty is trying to influence,Sherlock! You have to be crazy." John yelled.

"Do be quiet, John." Sherlock said quickly.

Sherlock continued to look through the phone's messages, but he couldn't find anything. There were a few text messages back and forth between Jamie, Dynah and Tessa, as well as a few messages to John and Mrs. Hudson, and even some to Molly, but other than that there was nothing. Sherlock huffed and handed the phone back to Jamie.

"I told you it wasn't her, Sherlock. Honestly, you're letting Moriarty get in your head. Just because Moriarty said that she was similar to him, doesn't mean that she actually is. She would never do anything like that." John said.

"I apologize." Sherlock said.

He didn't mean it, and Jamie knew it. She just smirked at him and placed the phone back into her pocket and walked closer to the message left in the grass. She just stood there looking at it, smiling a little bit, before walking back over to stand in between Tessa and Dynah. Sherlock turned around, away from the scene and they all followed behind quickly. Sherlock couldn't think. That message bothered him immensely, because it was the first time he realized that Moriarty was not just after him. He was after them all, and he was going to hurt them all greatly if he won.

Weeks passed by and they heard nothing from Moriarty once seemed that he was really spacing out this game of his. Trying to purposely drive Sherlock mad with boredom and being stuck in the flat with the 3 teenage girls was starting to get to him. Jamie seemed to be leaving the apartment less than usual and he rarely caught her texting somebody. All seemed far to peaceful in London for Sherlock. This was one of those rare days where Jamie had gone out, claiming that she was going out for high tea with a new friend she had made. She was going to the Dorchester Hotel for that. Sherlock had questioned why she needed to go out for it,when she could just have tea whenever she wanted in the flat, and simply replied that it was a rare opportunity in Canada to find a place that did high tea, so she was going to seize the opportunity. When he checked the tracking device in her phone, it did in fact pinpoint her location to The Dorchester. Dynah and Tessa had gone out as well, and when he checked where they went, it said that they were at the Tower of London. Why they were going to a tourist sight, Sherlock did not understand, but John just kept saying that this was their first trip to England and that they wanted to see all of the history. Sherlock didn't think it necessary, but apparently they did. They eventually all ended up returning back to the flat, Tessa and Dynah excitedly talking about what they saw at the Tower and Jamie talking about how nice it was at high tea. Sherlock found to conversation to be mind numbingly boring and found himself thinking about creating a case, just so he would have one. There were a few odd cases that John and him had worked on together, some of them very fascinating, however they were not enough to keep him from being bored for very long. Mostly all that happened was he would feel satisfaction from solving the case, get back home to the flat, and be bored once more. He really wanted to smoke, but John absolutely refused to let him smoke because he didn't want Jamie start coughing because she had weak lungs. Sherlock found that hard to believe, but begrudgingly listened to John's orders. So once more, he was sulking around the flat, just waiting for something to happen. John sighed and threw his jacket towards him.

"We're going out." John stated.

"Where are you dragging me to now, John?" Sherlock asked.

"We all need to get out of this flat. It isn't doing any of your minds any good being stuck in here all day."

"So we're just going to walk aimlessly around London then? Joy." Sherlock said, sarcasm practiclly dripping from his words.

"Look, Sherlock. You need to open up your mind to where Moriarty could be planning his next clue, so why don't you just come with us and you can sort out your thoughts."

"I doubt I'll be able to sort my thoughts in the crowded streets of London."

"Sherlock come on. It won't be tha-"

"If I go will you shut up?" Sherlock asked.

"Yes I will." John smiled.

"Fine."

In stead of taking a cab, John suggested that they take the tube. Sherlock absolutely despised the tube. All it was to him, was a bunch of people forced into one small compartment together where there was no such thing as personal space and people tried to make small talk with you, even when it clearly was not their area of expertise. It took about a half an hour to get to the London Eye, which is where John had suggested they take the girls so that way they could see the entirety of London. The London Eye took exactly 30 minutes to go completely around and it did get rather boring after the first 5 minutes because by then you've looked around enough. But John made him get on anyways and he just decided to sit in the middle, on the bench that was placed in there. At least the designer knew that people would get bored and would want to sit down. Sherlock sat there, huffing and puffing like a toddler when they wanted a nap and all he wanted to do was jump off of the stupid thing, but the bloody doors were looked. He felt a tap on his shoulder and he turned around and saw Dynah looking at him with wide eyes.

"What is it, Dynah?" he asked, irritated.

She held out her phone to him and he took it in his hand. He looked over the message that had been left open that she obviously wanted him to read.

"You can see all of London from up there? Can't you girls? I wonder if you can see the little surprise I left for you from all the way up there? Just look hard enough and you should see it. It's a classic. - J.M xx"

" We all got the same text. What's he talking about, Sherlock, and how the hell did he get our numbers?" Dynah asked.

Sherlock ignored her questions and looked out the window, searching for what Moriarty could possibly be talking about. He looked out over the city of London, trying to find something, anything that could possibly be from Moriarty. And he found it. In the windows, one of the other carriages on the London Eye, were the words:

"I'm not going to tell you my whole damn autobiography or anything. I'll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here to take it easy. J.M xx"

"The Catcher in the Rye." Tessa and Jamie spoke.

"The book?" Dynah asked.

"Yes the book! That's where it's from. The very first page of it." Jamie said.

"In that book, the protagonist Holden Caulfield, suffers from a mental breakdown. Depressed. Ends up being committed-" Sherlock started.

"To a psychiatric hospital." Tessa, Jamie and Sherlock both finished.

"Am I the only one who's lost here?" John asked.

"Nope. I'm lost too." Dynah answered back.

"The closest psychiatric hospital to London is Maudsley Hospital. That's where the next murder is going to take place."

"But we can't get there! This stupid thing takes a half an hour to go completely around!" Dynah said.

Sherlock began to hit his head against the glass of the compartment and continued to do this until they were allowed to get off. Sherlock had suggested that they pry it open and climb down onto the ground, but everyone else deemed that to be to dangerous to attempt. They hailed down a cab and took it to Maudsley. It was a 11 minutes drive there and once they arrived they were almost afraid of what they were going to find. Psychiatric hospitals were not a good thing in Jamie's books. Ever since she had been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, she was always afraid that she would end up in one. As they walked into the hospital, they knew right away that something wasn't right. The halls were completely empty, nothing and nobody there. There was suddenly a very loud screeching noise coming the speakers in the hospital. Jamie, Tessa and Dynah covered their ears, while John and Sherlock looked towards the speaker, already knowing who it was on the other end.

"Hello, my dears. So nice of you to come out and play with me again." Moriarty's voice said. "Now here are the rules of this game! There are 2 floors in this beautiful building. But only one door is the door that you need to go through. Now in every other room are the patients and doctors of the hospital, but if you try to open one of those doors, than the whole place goes BOOM! Find the door, and you find me." The speakers turned off.

"How the hell are we supposed to find one door in this entire building that won't blow us up!" Dynah screamed.

"You do know that screaming isn't going to help right now?" Tessa said.

"Alright, we have to think. The number to the door must have been in the clue."

"But there are no numbers in that clue." John said.

"I know that, John. But there must be something. Something that we can pull out of it." Sherlock said.

"Page numbers!" Dynah said suddenly. "Oh sorry, forget that. That's such a stupid idea."

"No, Dynah! That's brilliant!" Sherlock exclaimed.

"It is?" Dynah asked.

"Yes! That's one of the digits in the number of the room. It has to be. Jamie, can you tell me the exact chapter and page they are in."

"Easy. Page 1, chapter 1."

"That's not enough...there has to be more to it...The line number! What was the line number on the page?" Sherlock asked.

"How the hell am I supposed to remember that? I read the book when I was 13!" Jamie exclaimed.

"Jamie you need to remember this! Try and remember it!" Sherlock exclaimed.

Jamie shut her eyes and the room was quiet as she tried to think back to the book. She had picked it up and skimmed it a few times after she had read it,but that doesn't make it easier to remember what she had seen and she hadn't taken the time to count how many lines down the page it was. She tried to imagine the first page of the book and thought back to it, rearranging sentences and making sure that each line was in order, before beginning to count downwards."

"The line number it began at was 12! But it ends on line 17."

"But what is the combination? It could be 1117. Or any other combination of those numbers! It is impossible to tell!" John said.

"The most important line in that quote was where he mention madman. He never actually says that he is in a psychiatric hospital, however he does say madman. That's on line 13." Jamie said.

"So the room number is 1113?"Tessa asked.

"Yes. Chapter 1. Page 1. Line 13."

They rushed to find the room, running around on the first floor until they found couldn't see inside and they couldn't hear anything either, probably Moriarty's doing. Sherlock wrapped his hand around the door handle and looked at everybody else, who all nodded their heads and he swung the door open. No explosion. Everyone let out a sigh of relief,until they heard a clapping sound coming from in front of them. They all looked up to see Jim Moriarty sitting on top of a electro-shock therapy table.

"Bravo. I'm glad most of you seem to have taken an interest in classic literature. Really is quite moving isn't it?" Moriarty said.

Sherlock looked around the room and saw no body. There was supposed to be a body, that's why the clue was left. It's a part of the game.

"Disappointed that there is no body, Sherlock? Don't worry, there is. Just not in this room. This room isn't meant for dead people. It's meant for insane people. Like myself. Like you, Sherlock. And even for people like Jamie."

"Last I checked I'm not insane." Jamie said, glaring at him.

"Last time I check, post traumatic stress disorder was a psychological illness that led to many other disorders such as depression, multiple personality disorder. It's a gateway to insanity really." Moriarty grinned.

"What is the point in this, Moriarty. This isn't how the game is played!" John yelled.

"Well I created the game, so I get to design it however I want. Which means that I really don't play fair. Which is why I'm about to do this."

Moriarty pulled out a gun and pointed it at Tessa, Jamie and Dynah. Sherlock and John nearly moved closer, to try and protect them, but then Moriarty took the safety off of the gun.

"This is low for someone such as yourself, Moriarty."

"Oh, is the sociopathic detective showing emotions for 3 teenage girls? Boring! Honestly I expected better from you, Sherlock. Even you, John. Don't you know that you should bring a gun everywhere you go? It would keep you and you loved ones that much safer."

"You can only shoot one of us. You can't shoot us all at the same time." Jamie said. "You can't kill us all."

"Oh you think this is a real gun? Well I guess it looks rather realistic doesn't it. No, it's not a real gun." Moriarty laughed and then moved quickly to shoot both John and Sherlock.

"Just a tranquilizer gun. They'll wake up in a few hours with the bodies that they so desperately wanted. Now as for you three, I still don't know what I'm going to do with you yet. Don't be mistaken you're still apart of the game, but unless you want Sherly and Johnny-Boy to die, I suggest that you come take journey down the rabbit hole." Moriarty laughed loudly.

Sherlock and John struggled to stay awake, Sherlock's eyes unfocusing and then refocusing on the scene before him. The girls looked shocked, like they didn't know what to do. They had the choice to stay, and save Sherlock and John's life, or leave and kill them. Sherlock did not want them to go with Moriarty. There was no telling what the psychopath could do to mess with their heads. They were teenagers after all and the teenage mind could easily be changed and altered because it was still developing.

"Oh don't worry, Sherly and Johnny! I'll return them just fine! Probably before you even wake up. Come on girls, we have a lot of talking to do."

John and Sherlock fought to stay awake and tried to go after the girls as they followed Moriarty out of the room, but it was too late. They were gone and Sherlock and John's vision went completely and utterly black.

Chapter 7

When Sherlock first awoke, all he saw was a harsh white light, that was completely blinding his vision. He shut his eyes again and then slowly reopened them, allowing them to focus to the light. Next thing he noticed was a mind splitting headache making it's way from the very back to the front of his skull. Sherlock propped himself up onto his elbows, and saw that he was still in the psychiatric hospital. He looked beside him and came face to face with 3 bodies. Well Moriarty had promised them. He saw John pacing around the room, a look of worry on his face.

"Sherlock, he took the girls!" John yelled.

"I'm aware, John." Sherlock said, rubbing his temples.

"Sherlock do you not understand what danger they are in? They were just kidnapped by a psychopath who will probably kill them!" John yelled.

"John, Moriarty is not going to kill them. There is no point to it. He said he was going to return them, and if I know Moriarty, which I do, he will."

"You can't know that, Sherlock! The man is completely unpredictable." John said.

"John will you please just calm down. The girls are fine. Did you call the Yard?" Sherlock asked.

"Yes I did, about 20 minutes ago. I told them about the girls as well."

"John I told you that they were fine."

"They are not fine, Sherlock! They are in the hands of a psychopathic criminal! What part of that do you not seem to grasp?"

Before Sherlock could answer him, Lestrade burst into the room, along with some other officers who began to search the room. There was also a bomb squad who had come in as well, trying to get all of the patients and doctors out of the rooms without setting off the bombs.

"What the hell happened here?" Lestrade yelled.

"Nice to see you too, Inspector. Can you not yell so loud. I just woke up after being hit with a tranquilizer, and the last thing I need is for people to be screaming in my ear." Sherlock stated.

"It was Moriarty. Again. He led us here, knocked Sherlock and I unconscious and then took the girls with him." John stated.

"This is why I told you not to get them involved,Sherlock! Now the bloody kids are missing and I'm going to lose my job for letting them enter crime scenes when the psychopath was still on the loose!" Lestrade huffed.

"The girls are fine. I told John this before. If you're so worried about them, then I can find them for you."

"How the hell are you going to do that?" John asked.

"I put a tracker in each of their phones when you bought them." Sherlock stated

"Why the hell would you do that?" John asked.

"Just because I let them work cases with me, does not mean that I trust them."

Sherlock grabbed his phone out of his pocket and went into the tracker to find out where Moriarty had taken the girls. Once again, it took the tracker awhile to pinpoint the girls location, but after 1 minute 49 seconds, it showed their location. They were walking on Baker Street.

"I told you, John. The girls are fine." He said, showing the phone to John.

"Then they're not missing."

"No, Inspector they are not. Now let's focus on the bodies here. Obviously patients here, judging by the state of their bodies and their clothing. This one has slashed wrists, all though they are scabbed over, suggesting that they happened a day or two ago. They all look slightly unkempt and are very thin, suggesting that they do not eat a lot. There is toothpaste on the corner of each of their mouths. He killed them with it." Sherlock said.

"With toothpaste?How the hell do you kill somebody with toothpaste?" Lestrade asked.

"Toothpaste contains fluoride which is highly poisonous. That's why you get stomach pains when you swallow it. They would of had to ingest a lot of it in order to die from it and he must have given them something to keep them from throwing up." Sherlock thought out loud.

"You'll have to find out which patients they are and then check their medication to make sure that it is accurate to the prescription. He obviously forced them to eat the toothpaste, as you can tell by the hand shaped bruises on their throat. Now John and I have to go. We have to interview our flatmates." Sherlock said, leaving the hospital, John following behind him.

They took a taxi back to 221B Baker Street and as soon as they entered the building, they knew that something was wrong. They walked up the stairs towards their flat, where the doors were shut. Sherlock pushed it open slowly, to reveal Moriarty, Jamie, Tessa and Dynah. Moriarty was sitting in Sherlock's chair this time and Jamie sitting opposite him in John's while Tessa and Dynah sat on the sofa. Moriarty had a cup of tea in his hands and he looked up from it as he heard the door to the flat open up.

"Oh hello Sherly. Johnny-boy! Look I did exactly as I promised and brought them home safe and sound."Moriarty smiled.

"Girls are you alright?" John asked quickly.

"Such boring questions your pet asks." Moriarty sighed.

"We're fine, Uncle John. Nothing, aside from slight mental scarring." Jamie said, looking directly at Moriarty.

"It's not like getting kidnapped by me is going to give you post traumatic stress disorder. I mean you already have it, not much more damage I can do."Moriarty laughed.

"Is there a point to this madness, Moriarty?What did you need them for?" Sherlock asked.

"I just needed to have a discussion with them. Nothing harmful at all. Though they can't talk to you about it. No. That would mean breaking the rules, and we all know what happens when the rules to the game are broken." Moriarty smiled.

"There had to have been a point behind all of this, Moriarty. You wouldn't have just kidnapped the girls in order to have a little chat. There is more to this, isn't there? Something that I'm supposed to figure out." Sherlock said.

"If you really want to know, you will have to figure out by yourself. But you won't, Sherlock. The girls won't tell you because I'll kill you all before it can even leave their mouths. But let's just say that Faustus holds the answers to everything, Sherlock. You just have to find Faustus, and get him to tell you how to beat Mephistopheles." Moriarty grinned.

"You're really making me hate that play." Jamie and Tessa sighed.

"You're really just ruining classic literature in general for us." Dynah mumbled.

"Don't be so grumpy. I thought that we had a great day together." Moriarty pouted.

"If you consider being kidnapped and then taken to a whole bunch of tourist places against your will a great day, then sure, we had a great day together." Jamie said sarcastically.

"I mean seriously was there a point to that even? Why take us to all those places anyways? It was rather boring." Tessa stated.

"I would have enjoyed it, you know, if he hadn't of been with us." Dynah said.

"Ouch. I'm offended by your ice cold words. Really, that hit me right in my non-existent heart." Moriarty said, mocking sadness.

"So you'll kill us for mentioning what we talked about, but not for where we went? The places people go and really say something about them, Jim." Jamie smiled.

"Which is why I took you to completely random and unrelated locations." Moriarty beamed.

"Nothing is random. Nothing is done without purpose. You should know that, Moriarty." Sherlock said.

"You'll never get the chance to figure out, Sherlock. No. Because I'll have killed you by that point."Moriarty said.

" I thought you were going to burn the heart out of me?"

"Oh I will. I'm just waiting for the opportune moment. Oh and Sherlock, when it finally arrives, you'll know and you'll have to wait until I make my move, and you will be so scared."

"I don't get scared. Emotions are a drawback. I don't allow myself to feel them."

"Now , Sherlock. Don't lie to Daddy. If I was to shoot the girls or Johnny-Boy over there, you're telling me that you wouldn't care?"

"I know that you never would." Sherlock stated.

"You can't trust my word, Sherlock. After all, I'm just a psychopath. aren't I?" Moriarty cackled.

"Am I the only one who is getting bored right now?" Jamie asked.

"Why would you be bored, Jamie? I thought that you would find all of this thrilling."

"This is dull and predictable of you. You can only taunt us so many times in our own home so many times before it feels like a routine. You shouldn't be so repetitive."

"Oh and stop using literature against us. I actually liked the Catcher in the Rye before you made it a part of your game. Now that's all I'll think about when I read it." Tessa said.

"But our love for classical literature is something that we both have in common. So I think I'll continue to use it. But really I do have to go now. It was so lovely to have a proper chat with you. Perhaps someday soon? Good bye, my dears. See you soon." Moriarty said in a sing song voice.

As soon as Moriarty left the flat, John rushed over to the girls, making sure that they were alright and that Moriarty hadn't done anything to hurt them. Of course the girls were alright. Moriarty wouldn't dare hurt them, because it would mess up the consistency of his precious game.

"John! We're fine! He didn't do anything!" Dynah yelled.

"Honestly, all he did was take us to tourist sights. Psychopath." Tessa said.

"But why! Why is he doing this? Why do you three matter so much?" John yelled."Your parents are going to kill me."

"They won't kill you if they don't know what's going on, so let's keep it that way." Dynah said.

"Also, we're going to bed. After the day we had, we need some time to sleep." Tessa said.

They all left the room, leaving John and Sherlock alone. John began to pace around the room, mumbling incoherent things and Sherlock went to play his violin, not caring if it was too loud and stopped the girls from going to sleep. This whole day changed the game. It changed it a lot.

A week passed. Just a simple week. Jamie didn't go out anywhere. Neither did Tessa or Jamie. Molly had stopped by the flat twice in order to check on Jamie, whom she had not heard from for awhile and was apparently concerned. Jamie wouldn't even see her. Lestrade came by as well, asking if he could talk to the girls about what had happened when Moriarty had taken them, but John had to explain why they couldn't. The Lestrade went on a rant about how much danger the two of them had put the girls in and how he could put them in witness protection, even though Sherlock told him several times that he still needed them for the case and that Moriarty would find them no matter where they hid. It was now a Friday afternoon and it was the middle of June. June the 15th and Sherlock and John seemed to be the only ones in the flat. This however was untrue. The girls were upstairs but they had scarced uttered a word in days. Sherlock was working on an experiment, while John was typing for his blog. Suddenly slow footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs. Jamie was walking down the stairs, slowly, obviously tired, but she was dressed up, for going out. She was wearing a dress that had the figure of a skeleton on it that showed where her ribs, pelvic bone and knees would be, however the knee was slightly dis-proportioned from the rest of the skeleton. She was wearing heavy eyeliner, that made her eyes stand out more and red eye shadow that echoed the red lipstick that she was wearing.

"Where are you going?' John asked.

"Date." she yawned.

"Date? How can you have a date? When have you even had time to converse with people?" John asked.

"When I would disappear from the flat for hours on end. Now I really have to go. Don't know when I'll be back. I'll text you when I know. Bye." Jamie said, slipping out of the flat.

"When did she have time to find a date in all of this chaos?"John asked.

"She didn't." Sherlock answered.

"What do you mean?"

"Though she did cover it up very well with her makeup and the dress, she wasn't going out on a date. She would of been happier about it, more keen to leave and she wouldn't have told you directly. She would have made up a lie. Also Jamie has trust issues and she hasn't been in London long enough to feel comfortable dating any guy here." Sherlock stated.

"Then where is she going?" John asked.

"Not sure. She's hacked into the tracking systems again. Can't pinpoint her location." Sherlock said, looking at his phone.

"That's because she's not stupid and wants some privacy, instead of you knowing where she is all the 's kind of feels like you're stalking us sometimes."Dynah said, appearing from upstairs.

"Are you all coming out of hiding now?" John asked.

"Seems that way." Tessa said, appearing next to Dynah.

Tessa and Dynah hopped down off of the stairs and grabbed their jackets off of the coat hanger and made there way over to the door of the flat.

"Where are you two going?'John asked.

"We're going to Stratford." Tessa said.

"Why are you going to Stratford?" John asked.

"They're showing Macbeth at one of the theatres there, and I want to see a play in the real Stratford." Dynah said.

"It is no different from seeing a play anywhere else, although the quality is significantly better." Sherlock stated.

"Which is exactly why we're going there. We'll be back later! Bye" Dynah said, before her and Tessa slipped out of the flat.

"Do you think that they're really going to see a play?' John asked.

"No, they're not. I would have believed it, seeing as they were holding tickets in their hands, except Macbeth is being shown this season. There is no way that they could be going to see it, and it is obvious that their tickets were forged because they also said Macbeth on them." Sherlock stated.

"Where are they going then, Sherlock? Where are they going that they need to hide it so badly?"

"I can't tell you, John. Even I don't know where they're going. It's obviously private, and something extremely dangerous, something that could very likely get them killed." Sherlock said.

"Do you think it has anything to do with Moriarty?"

"It's something related to him, yes. It's to ensure that he loses the game."

"Then why aren't you trying to find out what the plan is so that way you know what you have to do in order to beat him?"

"If the girls don't want me to know, there has to be some kind of specific reason for it. It's probably very important to their plan. Thus I am not going to try and find out what it is because it will ruin the plan completely."

"But if they might die, we shouldn't be letting them continue with this plan."

"We have to, John. They have it all figured out and whatever plan they've come up with is the only way to ensure that we win. They're smart enough to know what to do to keep themselves from getting killed."

"So you're just going to let them risk their lives in order to win? Is that all you care about, Sherlock?"

"If we win the game, then they live, John. That's the whole point of this. I'm playing for our safety and their's. I have no choice but to let them go through with their plan, I'm sentencing us all to death." Sherlock stated.

"I shouldn't have let them stay here." John sighed.

"I could have told you that, John. But it makes no difference now. They're just as much a part of this as you and I, perhaps even more than us, regrettably."Sherlock said.

A few hours passed by before Dynah, Tessa and Jamie returned back to the flat. They all looked extremely tired and didn't say much, just going off to do whatever they wanted, Tessa grabbing her violin along the way. Sherlock and John didn't question their behaviour, knowing that it had something to do with whatever they were planning. Jamie had disappeared upstairs, only to reappear in a different outfit, before heading back to the door.

"Where are you going this time?" John asked.

"St. Bart's morgue." Jamie yawned.

"What do you need to go their for?"

"Tests. Experiments. Molly said she'll help me."

"I'll go with you. I need somethings from the morgue as well." Sherlock said, standing up.

"Suit yourself." Jamie said, still yawning.

Jamie slipped out of the flat, Sherlock behind her and they got a cab to come and take them to 's. The cab ride was silent, and after they paid the fare, they walked inside of 's. It was rather late and normally Molly would have gone home by that time, but ever since Jamie had been stopping by the morgue, she had began staying longer. Though Molly didn't know Jamie that well, seeing as she rarely talked, she was willing to listen to everything that Molly had to say, and when Molly would ask for her opinion, she would answer honestly, but not in a way that was cruel or hurtful. When Sherlock and Jamie walked into the morgue, Molly couldn't help but smile, and Jamie had to stifle her laughter.

"Good evening, Molly." Sherlock said.

"Evening, Sherlock. Jamie. Is there anything you need?" Molly asked.

"I just need a body, Molly. I want to just have a look at it all together, instead of looking at bits and pieces at a time. Sherlock only ever brings home parts." Jamie sighed.

"I don't think I could discreetly move a dead body, and not be caught and have Anderson and Donovan finally convincing the rest of Scotland Yard that I am a psychopath." Sherlock stated.

"Casualties."Jamie said.

"I'll go find a body." Molly said.

"Oh and Molly. Coffee. Black, 2 sugars."

"Sherlock, she's being nice enough to let us use the morgue, so go make your own coffee. Don't make her do it." Jamie said.

"I don't mind, really-" Molly started.

"Molly go get the body, and don't you dare get Sherlock's coffee." Jamie said, anger in her voice and Molly scurried off.

"Jamie, Molly didn't mind getting the coffee." Sherlock stated.

"Of course she didn't mind, Sherlock. I can't believe you're that naive to not understand why she was willing to do that. God sometimes you are just so unbelievably stupid, Sherlock." Jamie huffed.

Sherlock was about to respond back to what Jamie had said, but it was at that time that Molly had walked back into the room and Jamie gave him a look that indicated that he better keep his mouth shut. Sherlock walked out of the room, apparently to make his own coffee, while Jamie followed Molly into the morgue in order to test on the body that Molly had selected for her. When Sherlock came back down to the morgue, a cup of coffee in his hands, he saw Molly and Jamie talking, while Jamie was cutting open the body with a scalpel. Sherlock walked into the room, and both of them instantly stopped talking, Jamie looking up to glare at Sherlock and roll her eyes at him, while Molly just smiled at him. Sherlock went to go and use the microscopes in the lab in order to do experiments of his own. It was 1:56 am when Sherlock felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He reached into his pocket to go and check it, seeing that it was a message from Lestrade.

"Another message for you. Warwick Castle."

"Jamie, we have to go. There's been another message." Sherlock said, entering the room where Molly and Jamie were.

"Alright. Thanks again, Molly." Jamie said smiling.

"Bye Jamie. Sherlock."Molly smiled.

Jamie and Sherlock ran outside and got a cab. This was going to cost quite a lot seeing as it would take them around an hour and 54 minutes to get there from St. Bart's. Jamie had put in her headphones, throughout the cab ride, allowing Sherlock to think freely without her distracting him. When the cab finally arrived at Warwick Castle, the fare was paid regretably and Sherlock and Jamie walked out to see that John, Tessa, and Dynah were already there. They were looking at something, that John seemed to be holding in his hands.

"What was the message Moriarty left for us?" Jamie asked right away.

John held up the thing that he had been holding in his hands, which was revealed to be a handkerchief. There was blood on it and there were words written in the middle of it in black ink.

"Ring around the rosies,

Pockets full of posies.

Ashes to Ashes

We All Fall Down. - J.M xx"

"This just keeps getting crazier." Dynah mumbled.

"At least he stopped using classic literature." Tessa said.

"But now he's using nursery rhymes!" Jamie exclaimed.

"The history behind that nursery rhyme isn't really meant for children though." Tessa said.

"What do you mean?" John asked.

"It's about the "Black Death" or the Bubonic Plague. Not a pretty thing." Jamie said, faking a shudder.

"You know, it was spread from rats and fleas and then people ended up giving it to each other as well. Though that was called the pneumonic plague. The bubonic plague is rarely spread from person to person. It used to give you hemorrhages under the skin that made it look black and people would get very high fevers and since people in medieval times didn't know how to take care of themselves properly, many people died from it." Tessa explained.

"How does this lead us to the next murder though?" Dynah asked.

"The plague was brought to Europe by ships with the infected rodents." Sherlock said. "It will be on an incoming ship, from Asia seeing as that is where the disease came from."

"Do you think that's how Moriarty killed the people as well?" Jamie asked.

"We'll find out, when we find the bodies, won't we?" Sherlock smirked.

"But there is rarely ever a case of Bubonic Plague. There are only 1,000 to 3,000 cases of bubonic plague worldwide all year. How could he have killed them with it?" John asked.

"All he had to do was get them exposed to the disease. Not as hard as you think, John. We're talking about a man who was able to get a hold of botilinum toxin at an extremely young age." Sherlock said.

"Are you serious? Do you know how deadly that stuff is? 39.2 g of that and you can eradicate all of humankind? How did he get his hands on that!" Jamie exclaimed.

"Details I do not know. Do you think Moriarty would just tell me how he got it?" Sherlock asked.

"No. I was just wondering if you knew on your own." Jamie said, glaring at Sherlock.

"Do you think we should see if any ships are coming in from Asia?" John asked.

"There might be a few. One of them will somehow relate to the nursery rhyme." Tessa said.

"How many bodies do you think there will be this time?" John asked.

"His numbers seem to fluctuate. If anything, I'm anticipating a large number of bodies." Sherlock stated. Suddenly Lestrade ran up to them.

"We found another message." Lestrade said.

"What does it say?" Sherlock asked.

"Does it have to do with another murder?" John asked.

Lestrade led them towards the next message and it read.:

"We were alone with the quiet day, and his little heart, dispossessed, had stopped. J.M xx"

"Sherlock, can you please tell me, what that is supposed to mean?" Lestrade exclaimed.

Sherlock stood there, looking over the message that had been carved into one of the rooms inside of the castle, and John studied it over too. Tessa, Dynah and Jamie all looked at one another, knowing exactly what that message meant.

Chapter 8

"I know where it's from, Inspector." Jamie said.

"Oh and where is it from exactly? Another literary work?" Lestrade said.

"Actually yes. It's from Henry James' The Turn of the Screw. It's a novella." Jamie stated.

"It's a ghost story." Dynah said.

"Well really that is up to as the story is told in the governess' point of view, we can not be sure that she is really seeing a ghost, or if she is just simply crazy." Tessa said.

"That's the last of line of the novella. When Miles dies. The governess believes that it was a ghost, but she was hugging him into her chest, which if she were crazy, she could have killed him by suffocating him against her." Jamie said.

"Why would he leave that message for all of you?" Lestrade asked.

"It's not for us." Dynah said.

"It's for Sherlock." Tessa finished Dynah's thought.

"So what, the psychopath is going after Sherlock next?" Lestrade asked.

"No. He isn't coming after me next. This is just a warning for what is going to come." Sherlock said.

"He's going to kill you?" John asked.

"Yes. He said he would, but first he has to burn the heart out of me." Sherlock said, chuckling darkly. "But never mind this, we need to focus on finding out if their is a ship coming her from Asia."

"Sherlock, do not understand how hard that will be? Do you know how many ships come in and out of the country with cargo?" Lestrade asked.

"That doesn't will only be one specific ship that we need. Somehow the clue will tie together with it. I need to get back to the flat. I need to think." Sherlock said, rushing out to find a cab, the rest of his flat mates following behind quickly.

Another week passed and Sherlock was losing his mind. Everyday he would check to see if any ships from Asia that even somehow related to the nursery rhyme had arrived, but every time he checked, there was nothing. Absolutely nothing. He couldn't even find out if their was ship that left from ANY country in Asia with a name that would relate back to the clue. There was nothing. Of course Moriarty had made it untraceable so that he wouldn't be able to find it until it actually arrived in England. Sherlock was becoming extremely irritable and every little thing that people did was beginning to drive him off the edge, and Jamie had made one too many comments about him needing medication. It was now the 22nd of June. Once again, John and Sherlock had gone on their own separate cases in their spare time, one of them involving comic book characters coming to life. Sherlock was quite satisfied with himself after that case, but quickly the boredom returned and he was back to putting all of his focus into the game with Moriarty. Jamie, Tessa and Dynah were just as bored and tried to find simple things in order to occupy their time. Jamie spent most of her time reading books, and Tessa would practice her violin. Dynah seemed to always be on a laptop, whether it be her own or John's playing a game called "Slender" that would cause her to scream at random points and panic. Sherlock continued to look up information on ships coming to England, most of them being cargo ships, seeing as that was the most logical way to transport dead bodies overseas rather than on any other kind of ship. Sherlock continued his search until he found what he needed. There was a ship arriving in the Port of Liverpool later on this evening. Sherlock put his phone back into his pocket and walked over to Dynah's laptop, slamming it down to make it shut. He picked up Jamie's book and placed it on the table and he ripped Tessa's violin out of her hands. All girls looked like they wanted to kill him.

"What the hell, Sherlock!" Jamie exclaimed.

"I was just about to face the Slender Man and you shut my laptop!" Dynah yelled.

"All of that can wait. Our ship is arriving in Liverpool later on this evening. We need to be there and it is a rather long drive, so I suggest that we leave now. We're going to need Lestrade to come with us, that way we can get access to the ship." Sherlock said, quickly texting Lestrade, also saying that they would need a ride to Liverpool, seeing as Sherlock didn't want to pay the cab fare.

Lestrade arrived at the flat 20 minutes later, looking extremely annoyed, but Sherlock decided to ignore it and just walked down to where Lestrade had left the car that all of them were going to take in order to get to Liverpool. It was going to take them around 3 hours and 42 minutes to get to Liverpool and the girls seemed to have come prepared, with their music and books in hand, where as Sherlock, John and Lestrade had nothing to keep them occupied, even though Lestrade should be occupied enough making sure that none of them got killed on their way to Liverpool. After an excruciating 3 hour and 42 minute car ride, they finally arrived in Liverpool near where the ship was going to be entering the port. The name of the ship was called 羅茜的灰燼, which meant "Rosie's Ashes". Sherlock searched around for the ship and when he finally found it, he got Lestrade to use his power of working for Scotland Yard to his advantage and got inside the ship. It was mostly a cargo ship, although it had very little cargo for such a large ship. All of the crates were black, some of the paint chipping off of all of them, due to how old all of them were and the fact that they were constantly exposed to sodium chloride and acid precipitation. However as Sherlock continued to work through the rest of the crates, he saw one that did not match the rest and he knew that it was the crate he was going to need. It was white, had little damage done to it and when Sherlock looked around on the side it had the sheet music to "Ode to Joy" painted onto it. The crate was locked with a chain, and it had a combination on it. Sherlock quickly deduced that the combination would be the number of beats each other first few notes of the symphony held. He was right, not like there was any doubt. Lestrade handed all of them gloves and masks, not wanting them to contract the disease, even though it was highly unlikely unless their were rodents of some kind in their that had obtained the virus. Sherlock opened up the crate and the first thing to run out were rats, 5 of them to be exact. They ran past all of us, Lestrade trying to kill them quickly, seeing as he suspected them of carrying the disease, which he was right. Sherlock took a flashlight out of his pocket and looked inside the crate. There were 9 bodies inside of the crate. All of them looked extremely pale, but were covered in black sores. Sherlock moved closer and he could see bite marks on all of them, from both rats and fleas.

"This is like a history lesson come to life." Jamie muttered.

"London during the Black Death must have been such a pleasant time." Dynah said sarcastically.

Lestrade came running back to the crate, obviously having killed the rats. When he looked inside the crate his eyes widened in shock and he put a hand over his mask, where his mouth would be.

"Sherlock we have to do something to stop this man. He's killing innocent people!" Lestrade said.

"We can't stop him. He's completely off the grid. You can't predict his murders because they are seemingly unpredictable. He covers all of his tracks until he wants you to find them. He is always one step ahead of all of us." Jamie said.

"He implanted the diseases into the rats and placed them in the crate with these people. They were in this crate for a long time and without food, or water it wasn't hard for their bodies to lose the energy they needed to fight off the virus. Not being able to clean themselves either had also led to their downfall. He's been planning this one for a long time." Tessa said.

"I'll have the bodies be taken to the morgue at 's so I can have my forensics look at them." Lestrade said, phoning Scotland Yard.

All of the residents at 221B Baker Street looked at one another, and all of them had a look of worry on their face, even Sherlock. What they hadn't let Lestrade see was the message that had been left for them, because this time, they were really on their own here.

"So Sherlock and sidekicks. I'm so glad that you have made it this far in the game. Truly I am, but really I am getting rather bored with this whole, kill somebody leave a clue. It's so repetitive. So I'm going to change things a little. Just make things more in my favour. You'll find out how soon enough, when I take what I need from you.- J.M xx"

"Sherlock, what do you think he needs?" John asked when they got back to the flat.

"I'm not sure, John. Whatever he takes, it's going to be important to us. Something that will not allow us to think as clearly, because we'll be so focused on getting it back."

"What the hell do we have that could possibly do that?"

"I'm not sure, John. None of this really makes sense. Why now?Why does he want to change the game now? If he was bored, he would have changed it right after the murder at St. Bart's. There's something different now. He isn't going to change the game. He's just going to add another aspect to it. Another motive besides just catching him and winning the game."

"It's to make sure we're more involved. More interested in the game than we are now. Showing how much we want to win, in order to get the thing he stole from us back." Jamie said.

"I still don't understand what he could possibly steal from us that could help him." Dynah said.

"We don't need to worry about what it is, until he takes it." Sherlock said.

"Shouldn't we try to stop him from taking it?" John asked.

"We can't, John. It's his game, remember?" Tessa said.

"There has to be something, something that will give us a clue as to what he wants-" John started.

"It won't make a difference. If we try to stop him we all die." Sherlock yelled.

John sighed and went to go and make tea, while Sherlock sat in his chair and began to think of everything that Moriarty had done leading up to this point. None of this made any sense, the sudden change in the game, and the way he somehow decided that the game wasn't equal. He had known that right from the beginning that Sherlock and John had the upper hand, so why decide now. What factor had changed his mind so drastically. The worst part was that, the note that had been left in the crate was from only a little while after the game started. He had kept leading them through this repetitive cycle, just to change it, but why? What was the endgame? John came back into the room, placing a tray of tea down for everybody to grab a cup. Sherlock slowly drank his as he pondered over the mystery that was Moriarty. The longer he sat there, the stranger he began to feel. He soon began to feel tired, drowsy even and he looked around to see that the rest of his flatmates were looking the same way. They had been drugged, the cups probably having been laced with something. Sherlock tried to force his eyes awake, but he knew that he could fight the effects the drugs were having on his body. He barely heard the footsteps that were walking towards them all, his senses being dulled and weakening as he was slowly slipping into the world of unconsciousness. He shut his eyes for a few seconds, before forcing them to reopen, and his eyes locked onto those that belonged to Jim Moriarty.

"Hello, Sherlock, dear. Did you enjoy your day with the bubonic plague? I definitely had a lot of fun planning that one out." Moriarty grinned.

Sherlock tried to talk, but really all that came out were a lot of incoherent mumbles that sounded more like noises an animal would make.

"No, Sherlock. Don't try to speak. The drug will only make it harder for you. Just go to sleep. I'm only here to make sure that I take what I need. You just rest your pretty little eyes and I'll be on my way." Moriarty laughed.

Sherlock tried to keep his eyes open, so that he could see what it was that Moriarty was taking, but the drug was to strong and eventually he had to shut his eyes because his body couldn't take it. The last thing he heard, before he slipped into the realm of unconsciousness what Moriarty's psychotic laughter.

Sherlock woke up the next day, at 12:05 pm. Whatever drug Moriarty had given them had certainly worked well and to his benefit. Sherlock's body was stiff and was not responding well to his mental commands, but nevertheless he forced himself to get up and when he got up he saw that none of his flatmates were around. He moved quickly throughout the flat, and the first person he found was John, who was in his room. He woke John up and told him what had happened. Immediately, John tried to get up, but this only caused him to have to lie back down because the drug had not completely worn off yet and he was going to get dizzy if he decided to do something stupid like that again.

"Sherlock, where are the girls? Go find them. Make sure they're alright." John said, holding his head, with an expression of pain.

Sherlock nodded and went around the flat looking for the girls. He found Tessa in his own bedroom, her violin in one hand and the bow in the other. He forced her to wake up and thankfully she wasn't like John and didn't try to get up right away, even when Sherlock explained the situation. He then rushed out of the room, to find Dynah in the closet in the hallway where John kept the linens. She was awake, by the time he pulled her out of the closet and he explained everything to her as well. He then went to go and find Jamie. He looked through the entire flat, and so did Tessa, Dynah, and John, but Jamie could not be found anywhere. Realization appeared on all of their faces and Sherlock could see the anger and rage appear on all 3 of their faces. He looked around the flat, seeing if Moriarty had left any clue, any kind of message that would say anything about Jamie. Something. They all began tearing through every part of the flat, trying to find this message and they found a message, but not the one that they needed. Jamie's phone lay in her bedside table drawer and there was a sticky note attached to it.

"If you want to find out what I need Jamie for then simply enter the pass code to her phone and it will be the first thing that pops up.- J.M xx"

"I knew something like this was going to happen! I should have never let you girls get involved in our cases and now Jamie is off in the custody of psychotic nut bar. He's going to kill her, Sherlock!" John yelled.

"No he isn't, John. Did you not listen to anything that he said? He said he wanted to make this game more figured perhaps by stealing a piece of information or a material object that would some how give him the upper hand. We didn't once think that he would take the girls. He could take any of them, all of them are smart enough, but he took Jamie because she is the one that is most like him, the one that is more tempted by evil and will do things for the fun of it, despite whether or not it is wrong. She does what she believes to be right. Also the fact that she already has trust issues to begin with. The only people she seems to trust are those she knew from her childhood or the people that are most like her. She has an underlying hatred of people and though she can deny it, wants to hurt a lot of them. She'll try to fight Moriarty, yes. But in the end, if she's pushed far enough, she'll give in." Sherlock said.

"Tessa, Dynah. Do any of you know the password to Jamie's phone?" John asked.

"No. She wouldn't tell any of us. She kept saying that all her secrets were on her phone and she didn't want a soul to know." Dynah said.

"It was something important to her. Something that meant something. However she wouldn't have made it a word or made it a number that spelt out something on the phone. It would have been a date. Something significant, but not related to her own actual life. It would have been related to something that she liked. Her favourite novel was The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice. Her favourite character being Lestat de Lioncourt." Sherlock looked up the information on his phone. "It wouldn't be the year he became a vampire, that would be to obvious. It would be a date they never mentioned you could count down to. His birth year." Sherlock typed in 1760. Password didn't work.

"Alright it had to have been something else. She mentioned comic books to me once. Said that they weren't all fighting. That they could keep you up to date with current events. Spoke fondly of them, but I never actually saw her read them. Dynah, who's her favourite comic book character?"

"Wally West? Kid Flash and later on became The Flash." Dynah said.

Sherlock looked up the information he needed on his phone and found what he was looking for. He typed in the number 1116 and the phone opened up, revealing a message from Moriarty that he had typed in an left as a note on her phone.

"Good for you! You were able to hack into her phone. Might I just add that Jamie is quite the comic book nerd. I would have never guessed Wally West if I hadn't overheard Jamie and Dynah discussing it. Now I promised you my reasons behind kidnapping Jamie. The first is that the game was becoming very unfair. You had four minds working on all my riddles, and it just seemed too easy. Also let's face it, Jamie is the most like me and she is quite changeable and I am going to change her. You were right in your guess, Sherlock. Jamie is Faustus. She's always been Faustus. Every time she would leave the flat it would be to see me. Now we just had chats, she talked about how she would destroy me and win the game and I couldn't help but find her passionate hatred for me charming. But she's more like me than I think you can even understand. So I'm going to borrow her for a while. Hopefully she'll willingly help me with my plans. Otherwise we may have a problem." -J.M xx

Jamie sat in the back of a car, hands tied behind her back. Sitting across from her was a very tall man, who was obviously an alpha male type and considered himself better than most people and stronger, as was evident from the way his body was defined. He worked out to make sure that he looked bigger and stronger than everybody. Moriarty was sitting next to him. Jamie refused to make eye contact with him, in stead, she made direct eye contact with the man in front of her, trying to assert her own form of dominance.

"What are you looking at?" he asked, sounding even more idiotic than he made himself look.

Jamie smiled and then lifted her leg up and kicked him directly in the shin. Moriarty began to laugh as the man gripped his shin from the pain and even Jamie couldn't stop a large grin from spreading across her face.

"Now was that entirely necessary, Jamie?" Moriarty asked.

"Just showing him that he has no authority over me." Jamie said, making eye contact with Moriarty for the first time since he had taken her away from 221B.

"Then I guess it was necessary." Moriarty chuckled.

"How long are we going to be stuck in this car anyway? I woke up and hour ago and you kidnapped me last night." Jamie glared.

"Not much longer. We just have to reach a safe distance away from your home on Baker Street. Don't want Sherlock to find you too easily, would we?"

"That would ruin your game, wouldn't it?" Jamie asked.

"Oh yes it would, and you need to see my game play out until the end.

"I already know how your game is going to end, Moriarty. I figured it out a long time ago."

"Aren't we on a first name basis now, Jamie. I mean after all, if you are going to help me plan the fall of Sherlock Holmes, we should really be on a first name basis." Moriarty said.

"I don't really plan to help you. I was forced here against my will, remember? Not like I volunteered to be here." Jamie said.

"Well you're going to help me, whether you want to or not. Besides, now the game is even, which is going to make it so much more fun. Besides Jamie you hate people, so why do you care if they get hurt?" Moriarty asked.

"Just because I hate people, doesn't mean they deserve to die."

"Now we both know that's not how you actually feel. Come on, you can Jim how much you want to kill people. You can even tell me that you know how to do it."

"It's not hard. I just need to get my hands on some botulinum toxin and I'll be set. 39.2 g to be precise."

"It's a sad thing that the government, and in fact the entire world is naive enough to leave that around and think that a psychopath like you or me won't get our hands on it." Moriarty dramatically sighed.

"I'm not a psychopath, Jim. Just because I have post traumatic stress disorder does not mean I am going to become a psycho like you." Jamie glared.

"No. But it makes it easier to make you one. In the words of the Joker from the comics you love so much 'All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy.'"

"The Killing Joke by Alan Moore. I'm impressed." Jamie said.

"I decided to read it one day when I was bored. I rather liked the Joker. It's a shame Batman has to come in a ruin all of his fun." Moriarty frowned.

"There will always be a Joker. Because there is no cure for him. No cure at all. Just a Batman."

Jamie said, reciting it from memory.

"Isn't that beautiful?" Moriarty grinned.

"From The Joker by Brian Azzarello. You should read it if you like the Joker so much. It's all about him."

"Comic books aren't really my thing. Perhaps I'll read another some day." Moriarty said, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it.

"Oh no, that's cool. Light a cigarette. Not like any of us in here are allergic to it." Jamie said, rolling her eyes.

"My apologies." but he still continued to smoke it.

"How long will I have to endure your company, Jim?" Jamie asked.

"Until the fall of Sherlock Holmes, Jamie. Until the fall."

Chapter 9

"Sherlock I refuse to calm down!"John yelled.

Sherlock was rubbing his fingers against his temples in frustration, as he tried to explain to John, why they couldn't go out and just rescue Jamie. He didn't seem to comprehend that if they did that, not only would she be killed, but they would as well. Even Tessa and Dynah were acting better than him and they were her best friends.

"John, Sherlock's right. We can't go out looking for Jamie. She's safe if we continue with the game." Dynah said.

"Safe? She's off somewhere with a murderous psychopath and you all think that she's safe?" John yelled.

"John I know this is hard for you to deal with right no-" Sherlock started.

'No you don't, Sherlock. That girl is like family to me! You just don't stand by and let something horrible happen to your family, especially when you can prevent it. But I guess you wouldn't know because you don't care about anybody!" John yelled.

"John, I understand the relationship that you and Jamie have, and I understand why you feel the need to go after Moriarty and save her, but you have to see things from our perspective. Moriarty's game has rules to it John, and the new rule involves Jamie. He took her to make the game equal for himself. We can't go after her. She'll die, John."

"You're telling me that she won't die if she stays there? Because you don't know that, Sherlock. You can't possibly know what that psychopath will do."

"John, you need to calm down and here what we're trying to tell you." Tessa said.

"How can you two be so calm about this? She's your best friend and now she's been kidnapped by a man who promised to kill 80 people for the sake of a game. How do we even know that she's not one of the 80 people?" John asked.

"He isn't going to kill her! We know that by now. If he was going to kill us he would have done so already. The only person he aims to kill is Sherlock." Tessa said.

"A comforting thought." Sherlock said, sarcasm evident in his tone.

"He's unpredictable, girls. You should know that by now." John said.

"It doesn't matter how unpredictable he is John. Everything he does has to have a purpose, and if he wants his game to continue being fun, then he has to keep her alive. She is perfectly safe, unless one of us breaks the rules. So let's avoid that at all costs."

"So you expect me to just sit here and not worry about the fact that Jamie is in the hands of some psychopath?" John asked.

"That's what I'm asking you to do."

"You had better be right, Sherlock. What are we supposed to tell Lestrade?" John asked.

"We have to try and avoid telling him anything, unless we want him to get all of Scotland Yard looking for her, in which case, she's dead." Sherlock said.

"We have to tell him something. He's not going to believe that she just disappeared." John said.

"No,but we could deceive him into believing that she is in another country." Dynah said.

"Why would he think that she is in another country?" John asked.

"Well remember that the first 2 clues that Moriarty left were somehow related to Scotland? we could convince Lestrade that Jamie went there in order to see if there was any relevance to it. Simple enough to lie to him. Not like he could do anything about it anyway, because it's way our of his division." Tessa said smiling.

"Brilliant! So everything's settled then?" Sherlock asked.

"Everything is most definitely not settled, Sherlock. We still have to wait for Moriarty to make the next move." John said.

"You're right. It won't be the same as the last, no that would be too boring. He'll want to do something else, but what? What could he possibly do?"

"We don't know, Sherlock, that's the whole problem. We don't know what he is going to do, because he makes all of the decisions." Dynah said.

"So we're just going to have to sit here and wait?" Tessa asked.

"It appears that way."

"So you really just expect me to plan out the demise of Sherlock, my Uncle John, and my friends? You really are crazy." Jamie laughed.

"Now Jamie, that's no way to thank somebody for keeping you safe." Moriarty grinned.

"Oh please tell me how you're keeping me safe, because I don't feel very safe when I'm being held captive by a criminal psychopath."

"I prefer the term, consulting criminal." Moriarty smiled.

"Of course you do." Jamie said, rolling her eyes.

"Now do you want to know why you're safe here? It's because you have the highest chance of living out all three of your friends. I might kill them if they get in the way of my plan."

"If you so much as lay a hand on them-" Jamie started.

"You'll do what, Jamie? Kill me? You'd be dead before you could even attempt to. Now back to the point I was trying to make. I'll only kill your friends if they try to interfere with what we are going to plan."

"We are not going to plan anything. You can do all the planning on your own." Jamie said.

"Oh now you're just being positively boring, Jamie. Aren't you the one who says you're neutral and don't take sides? Well if that's true than maybe you should try to work with me. See how it feels to work on the side of the devils in stead of on the side of the angels." Moriarty said, smirking.

"An intriguing proposition. Continue." Jamie said.

"Just try it out. It's not like you'll be killing somebody. Oh no, I'll handle that. You'll just be assisting me." Moriarty said.

"I'll think it over, Jim. Not sure if I want to make a choice in where my loyalties lie just yet. Who knows, perhaps I will take the side of the devils, or perhaps I'll take the side of the angels. Either way you'll ever know." Jamie said.

"How will I not know?" Moriarty asked.

"Either way I'll still be resistant because I don't like taking orders. From anyone. Why do you think I always ignored whatever Sherlock would say? Well the first reason was to vex him and the other was because he kept trying to tell me what to do. I don't respond too well to that." Jamie smiled.

"You can make your decision later. For now, you are helping me." Moriarty said.

"Did you just completely miss what I said? I don't like being told what to do. You can plan this out by yourself, Jim." Jamie said, walking away.

"Where do you think you're going? It's not like you can go anywhere. You don't even know where you are."

"We're in Scotland. Edinburgh to be precise. I guess the relevance to Scotland in those clues really did mean something, didn't they? I've been here before too, when I was 11. I know my way around. I'll be back later!" Jamie said, walking out of the room.

Sherlock was pacing around 221B, not understanding why Moriarty was waiting so long for this game to continue. It had been a month and a half since Jamie had been taken from the flat. They had no idea where she was, or what Moriarty was doing to her. It was now the 15th of September. Sherlock was pacing around the flat, in nothing but a sheet, which had earned a lot of yelling from Tessa and Dynah who insisted that it was inappropriate that he was walking around in just a sheet, but he decided that he didn't really care what they thought. That was when some government lackeys had come in to "escort" him to Buckingham Palace. They had asked him to change into some proper clothes, but of course he had refused and had gone to Buckingham in just the sheet. He had asked Tessa and Dynah to come along, and next thing he knew, they were all sitting in Buckingham Palace together, John was even there, even though he had been in the countryside, investigating for him. They all sat there waiting, wondering what could be so important that they were dragged to Buckingham Palace. Then Mycroft walked in, as Sherlock expected, and began to discuss a case for him. Something to do with a woman called Irene Adler, who apparently had incriminating photos of one of the younger royals. Mycroft informs him that Irene is a dominatrix, and Mycroft decide that it would be appropriate to make a comment about his sex life, one that Sherlock himself did not find amusing, but Dynah and Tessa seemed to enjoy immensely. It seemed that this was the point Mycroft decide to realize that they were even there.

"Sherlock, why do you have two teenage girls with you?" Mycroft asked.

"Family friends of John. I couldn't very well leave them at the flat now could I? What kind of good parenting would that?" Sherlock said, laughing.

"You honestly didn't see them there this whole time? And you just told us a lot of important information about this case." John said.

"I know that they have been helping my brother on many cases, I just don't understand why he brough them on this one." Mycroft said, distaste in his voice.

"Wow I feel appreciated." Dynah said, causing Tessa to laugh.

"Despite what you may believe, Mycroft, these girls are a lot smarter than they seem, so treat their logic as you treat mine." Sherlock said.

"I don't know about that, he doesn't treat you that great either, Sherlock." Tessa said.

"What do you expect, he is the British Government." They all began laughing, except for Mycroft.

Sherlock was now becoming more focused on this case with Irene Adler, while he waited for Moriarty's next move. He didn't understand Moriarty's determination with waiting so long to strike. There seemed no point to it at all. Perhaps it was all Jamie's fault? Maybe she wasn't co-operating? But surely Moriarty would have expected this behaviour from was deliberate. Moriarty had something to do with Irene Adler. The more Sherlock began to investigate into Irene Adler, the more distracted he became from Moriarty's game. He needed to take his focus away from Moriarty from now and put it onto solving this case with Irene Adler, seeing as this was where Moriarty was obviously putting all of his focus now. He'd have to wait until this was all over before he could get back to the game with Moriarty.

In Sherlock's mind, it seemed like it had taken forever to solve the case concerning Irene Adler seemed to have taken a rather long time. It was now March 14th. Jamie had been missing from the flat since June the 22nd. We still had no idea where she was, or what Moriarty was planning. John was beginning to bring up going to look for her again, even though I tried to inform him that it was once again, impossible to do that without getting her killed. We were all sitting around the flat. It was incredibly dreary outside, what most people would consider to be typical English weather, not fit for human beings. Sherlock was lounging around in his pyjama's, while the rest of his flat mates, sat around, dressed like they were actually going to go out and do something with there day. Sherlock just sat in his armchair, just feeling like he was wasting away in this flat. As he sat there wondering how any of this could possibly get any worse, there was a knock on the flat door. Sherlock looked up at the door, as Dynah went to go and revealed, Jamie. Sherlock eyes widened at the sight of her, as did everyone else in the flat, but as soon as the initial shock wore off, everyone, excluding Sherlock, went up to go and giver her a hug. She smiled warmly at everyone and wrapped her arms around them. Physically she had not changed much, despite the fact that she had lost some weight and seemed if only slightly taller than the last time he had seen her. Her clothing however looked different, as did her makeup. She was dressed in a dress that was all black, except for a red belt around the middle and she was wearing a pair of heels. Her hair was still tied in pig-tails the way she liked it, but she was wearing the red eye shadow and lipstick that she rarely put on. Going somewhere important.

"Nice to see you again, Sherlock." she said.

"You too, Jamie. Moriarty finally decide to return you?" Sherlock asked.

"Not exactly." Moriarty said, appearing from behind Jamie, who just rolled her eyes at him.

Within seconds of seeing Moriarty, John went into pure animalistic rage, and it looked as though he wanted to rip Moriarty to pieces, which he obviously did.

"You bastard!" John yelled, trying to punch Moriarty, who easily evaded the hit.

"Uncle John, I'm fine. Don't hit him. He'll just have snipers ready to shoot you anyways." Jamie said, glaring at Moriarty.

"She learns well, Sherlock. Really I'm so glad you let me borrow her."

"I didn't let you borrow anything. And I thought my brother was keeping you in custody, last I was informed." Sherlock said.

"Oh that's right. I stole it. Oh and he is. I'll be returning momentarily." Moriarty grinned.

"Since when did I become and it?" Jamie asked.

"Hush. The grown-ups are talking! Now Sherlock, Daddy has been very kind to bring Jamie back for this special visit. It was just going to be me originally, but I thought I would be kind to the both of you and let you all see each other. After all it has been-" Moriarty said.

"9 months since we last saw her." Dynah said, venom lacing her words.

"Somebodies bitter." Moriarty chuckled.

"Try having your best friend be kidnapped by a psychopath. It's not the best or most reassuring feeling." Tessa said.

"You should feel reassured. After all she is the only one who's life I can nearly guarantee will be in tact by the end of this little game." Moriarty grinned.

"Why are you here, Moriarty, if not to mock us?" Dynah asked.

"Oh no. I'm not here to mock you. I'm here to just let you know that now that I am officially back in town, and so is Jamie,our little game can start up again."

"Jamie, your clothing style is different, as are your makeup. You've also lost a bit of weight." Sherlock said quickly.

"What can I say, when I'm upset and worried I don't eat as much. My clothing and makeup are different because I have somewhere I need to be today. A meeting." she said, glaring at Moriarty.

"She is right, Sherlock. We do have a meeting to attend to. Make sure that everything goes according to plan. We have to be off, oh and John, don't try to stop her from leaving with me. Otherwise you'll all be dead." Moriarty laughed before walking out of the flat, Jamie standing by the door.

"You guys don't even know how crazy he really is. Nothing can prepare you for what he has planned." she said, before slipping out of the flat.

"Do you see this, Sherlock? This is the life she is forced to lead now because we had to get involved in all of this! This needs to stop, Sherlock! All of this madness needs to stop!" John shouted.

"Why can't you understand it, John! It can't stop! We're in too deep already!"

The next day, started off immediately with a text from Lestrade:

"Looks like your psycho is back. There's another message for you. Charles Dickens Museum."

"Moriarty's left a clue. Charles Dickens Museum! We have to go! Now!" Sherlock yelled, waking up all of his flatmates.

They all rushed out of the flat as soon as they were ready for the day and got a taxi to take the the Charles Dickens Museum. About 11 minutes later they were standing in front of the museum. there was no need for them to go looking for the clue, because it was on a banner hanging right above them, painted in blood, that was dripping onto the ground.

"This story... it's a doozy. I remember Dad told it to me one Christmas. He was pretty sauced and at first I thought he was makin' it up as he went along, but in the end, it all made sense. Let me tell ya, some WEIRD stuff happens in this story. You may find some of it hard to swallow. First thing though, you gotta tell me something... 'Cuz for this story to make sense.. for it to mean ANYTHING... you have to BELIEVE in something. Something VERY important. You have to believe people can CHANGE. And I'm talkin' in a positive way, change for the BETTER... I'm talkin' about the idea that a person can take years of programming and habit and turn'em on their ass. That when the deck is stacked against him, he can get the stones to OVERCOME. It might be difficult for you to understand, you're just a KID. In life, as people get older, they get set in their ways. Most people never change. It's too scary, like staring off the edge of a cliff... Most people just can't make the LEAP.- J.M xx"

"A Batman Noel." Dynah whispered.

"What?" John asked.

"The quote! It's from the comic A Batman Noel! It's based off of Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol! This wasn't a clue that Moriarty came up with! This is from Jamie!" Dynah whispered so that only the 4 of them could hear her.

"Why would she leave this?" Sherlock asked.

"This is her way of letting us know what Moriarty is making her do. He is forcing her to help him with this game! We need to go to a cemetery! When you take a leap, usually you are up very high in the air..." Dynah said.

"Highgate Cemetery." John and Sherlock said simultaneously.

"Yes that's it!" Tessa exclaimed.

They all hailed another taxi and arrived at the cemetery within 14 minutes. As they pulled up they saw what seemed like endless graves.

"How do we know which one is the one that we need?" Dynah asked.

"It will be related to the clue. To A Christmas Carol." Sherlock said.

They began looking at all of the headstones, all of the graves and still they found it difficult to find the one that they needed. All of the ones that were freshly buried, were not even close to being related to A Christmas Carol. Sherlock was beginning to feel frustrated when he walked past a grave that caught his eye. He took a step backwards and turned to face it. The name on the tombstone was Sydney Carton. Though he was not a character from A Christmas Carol he was a character from A Tale of Two Cities, another Dickens novel. He called over all of his flat mates and they studied the grave. Sherlock found a shovel and began to dig it up, knowing that they would find a body inside. As soon as the shovel hit the coffin, he tossed it aside and John, Tessa, and Dynah helped him lift the lid. Thousands of spiders crawled out of the casket and Tessa and Dynah jumped back away from it. Sherlock looked in the casket, to realize that there was no body there, just a note.

" I told you, Sherly, that I was getting bored of that tiresome game. That's why I changed it up. Now, instead of that boring routine of find a clue find a body/bodies, you get to do a little scavenger hunt for each. I don't think I'll give you your clue now, it'll be too easy. I'll give it to you later. Oh and might I say, that Jamie has been such a doll with helping me out. Although it took some persuasion, I managed to get her assistance. Have fun, Sherlock and friends! Love, J.M xx"

"Now! Now we're supposed to go on a scavenger hunt? And Jamie is helping to plan this all!" John yelled.

"She doesn't have a choice in the matter, John. She is doing what she needs to do in order to keep us alive. You should commend her for it. She's stronger than I orignally took her for." Sherlock said.

Over the next few days, Sherlock, John, Tessa and Dynah had all travelled down to Baskerville in order to solve a case. It was rather fun, by the end of it, once they realized what was actually taking place there, however it was short lived when they returned to their flat. It seemed as though all of their troubles revolving around Moriarty's game were only growing worse, and they had not received one clue as to what the next clue was or how the scavenger hunt would continue. They had phoned Lestrade and asked if anything had happened while they were gone, but he just said that it had been extremely quiet. Nothing too suspicious at all. Mycroft had informed Sherlock that Moriarty had been released from custody, and Sherlock could not be more angry. But it wasn't like it really made a difference in the first place. He was able to get in and out whenever he wanted anyways, and he had Jamie doing his bidding for him. Sherlock often wondered about how all of this was affecting Jamie's psyche. She already had post traumatic stress disorder and all of this was probably just making it all that much more unbearable. It was affecting Tessa and Dynah in an extremely negative way as well, not knowing whether or not their friend was safe or in danger. John was becoming more of an introvert, not really wanting to do much of anything or talk to anyone, which was extremely out of character for him. Sherlock nearly jumped out of his seat when he received a text message from Lestrade.

"Another message for you. Should be able to get there fast enough. It's in your flat building. Mrs. Hudson just phoned us. Flat 221C."

"All of you downstairs, now! There is a message left for us in 221C!"Sherlock yelled, running down the stairs, with the rest of his flatmates joining him quickly.

They ran into the basement apartment of their flat building. Now the room was mostly barren, and the place didn't exactly look well kept, but that wasn't what was important right now. What was important was that there was a message left on the floor of this flat, in not blood, but black ink that would surely stain the carpet forever. They all stared over the message, not quite sure what to think of it. Lestrade strode into the flat, not but 15 minutes later. He looked at them.

"Where's the one with the pigtails?" Lestrade asked.

"Scotland. We thought that perhaps Scotland was relevant to the clues that he left us, so she went there to go and find out." Dynah said quickly, not taking her eyes off the message.

"Alright. Seems rather odd."

"She's been gone for 9 month, Inspector. I'm surprised you didn't notice." Sherlock stated.

Lestrade ignored him and looked over the message as well.

"What are we supposed to make of that?"

"You say that about every note he leaves behind and we are always able to make something out of it. This repetitive cycle of yours is becoming tedious, Inspector." Tessa said.

"Tessa!" John exclaimed.

"Apologies." Tessa said quickly, not once taking her eyes off the message. It read:

"Carpe Noctem."

"What does that even mean?" Lestrade asked.

"It's Latin, Inspector." Dynah said.

"But Latin is a dead language, why use it?"

"Because only morons see it as a dead language. Almost every language in the world branches from Latin. Thus it can never die." Tessa said.

"Doesn't it mean, "Seize the Day."?" Lestrade asked.

"No that's Carpe Diem. This is Carpe Noctem." Dynah said.

"Well what does that mean?"

"Seize the Night." Tessa said.

Chapter 10

"How is that supposed to help us?" Lestrade asked.

"It's connected to something. There has to be something were missing, something that we've forgotten about. There has to be a clue somewhere else."Sherlock mumbled.

"Sherlock, if it's Jamie leaving the clues, what do you think she meant by it?" Dynah asked.

"If it is her, then it's something that she obviously likes. She's not making them difficult for us because she wants us to find it easily. Something to do with the night."

"She was obsessed with night time. Ever since I knew her. She would always go and look up at the stars at night, continuously saying to take advantage of it because at some points, you couldn't enjoy it." Tessa said.

"Do you think that's the link? Her obsession with the night? It seems rather obvious." John said.

"Even though it may be obvious, it still doesn't give us an answer as to where we need to go for our next clue. Is there anywhere around here that has to do with astronomy?" Dynah asked.

"There is the Sussex Astronomy Centre in Worthing." John said.

"I think that's our best guess, if we're wrong, which we shouldn't be, we are going to be in a lot of trouble." Tessa said.

They hailed a cab to take them to the Sussex Astronomy Centre. It was once more a rather long drive, and Sherlock found himself wishing that Moriarty would be kind enough not to make them travel so far in order to find things. However Moriarty was anything but kind and Sherlock knew this. Obviously. When they arrived at the Astronomy centre they quickly went inside and began looking around for clues. This wasn't something Sherlock had been expecting. If Jamie was in fact planning all of this then Sherlock didn't understand why she was making this so complicated for all of them? There had to have been a reason behind it all. As they continued to search through the museum they finally found something. On one of the information plaques, there was a note stuck to the underside of it. Just a sticky note mind you, nothing elaborate or detailed like the notes Moriarty usually left them. It read.

"The answers you need can be found in the stars.- J.M xx"

"What do you think that means?" Dynah asked.

"It has to do with the constellations. They were used to tell stories and give answers to things that seemed unanswerable." Tessa said.

"But which constellation are we looking for? There are a lot of constellations in the sky. Which one are they talking about?" John asked.

"The constellation Draco." Sherlock said.

"And how can you be sure of that?" Tessa asked.

"The message that was left for us in 221C was Carpe Noctem, which is Latin for Seize the Night. Draco is Latin for Dragon." Sherlock said simply.

"Jamie did have an unusual obsession with dragons and mythical creatures. But I think everyone does at some point." Dynah said.

"But where does this lead us to anyways?" John asked.

"Draco Street, John. That should have been obvious."Sherlock said, rolling his eyes.

They got another taxi to take them back to Draco Street. It was another hour and forty two minutes before they were back in London. When they arrived on Draco Street, they saw that Scotland Yard was already there. Lestrade went up to them quickly.

"I'm glad I didn't have to call you. Your psycho left another clue for you. Still no body." Lestrade said, showing them to where the message was left.

The street was rather quiet, obviously Scotland Yard was trying to keep citizens away from the scene, but still, usually there was a lot more commotion around crime scenes, press, things as trivial as that. The message had been left on the road, written in orange chalk.

"The answer is not just Dragon. It is a specific type. Let me know when you've found the way. You know my number.- J.M xx"

"The way?" John asked.

"The way to what? What does he mean by that?" Dynah asked.

"You guys do know that there is another street that is related to dragons? It's called Wyvern Way. It's in Uxbridge. Wyvern's are also a specific type of dragon, only have two legs and wings. The largest types of dragons." Tessa said.

Sherlock and John looked at her strangely.

"It was in a book. In fact the man who apparently wrote the book, if he was even real, lived on Wyvern Way. His name was Ernest Drake. Book titled Dragonology. Jamie used to read it as a kid." Tessa said.

"Then to Wyvern Way we go." John said.

They once again took another cab to Wyvern Way, however this was only a 40 minute they arrived there, it did not take them very long to find what they needed. There was no message left for them this time. Just a list. And a body. It was left out, completely in the open, but for some reason nobody had seen it. It was just sitting there in the street. The victim was a young girl, around 18 to 20 years old and she was blonde. Her eyes were shut and her head was hanging down. There was duct tape on her mouth and she was strapped down to a chair. There was a list placed on her lap. Sherlock was the first to approach the body, while John phoned Scotland Yard to let them know what had happened. Sherlock walked up to the body, Tessa and Dynah slowly approaching from behind and looking as well. Sherlock ignored the list for now and reached for the duct tape on the girls mouth. The girl's cheeks were puffed out, suggesting that they were filled with something. When Sherlock ripped off the duct tape, Sherlock saw a mixture of melted marshmallows and spit come out of her mouth.

"He must have forced her to put a rather large number of marshmallows into her mouth and then put the duct tape on over top. She would never be able to swallow them and eventually they would begin to melt and then slide down her airway, not allowing her to breath and filling her lungs. It would have also slid down her esophagus and would have choked her to death." Sherlock said.

"I am so never playing 'chubby bunny'again." Dynah said.

"Chubby bunny?" Sherlock asked.

"It's a game where you try to shove as many marshmallows in your mouth as you can and you have to keep saying chubby bunny until you can't anymore."Tessa said.

"Sounds delightful." Sherlock said sarcastically.

Sherlock looked down at the list that had been left on the body. He picked it up and brought it over to where Tessa, Dynah and John were standing, letting all of them look at it.

List of things to do:

"1. Start my game with Sherlock X

2. Kill doctor in IT X

3. Kill people at Shakespeare's Globe X

threats about Faustus X

5. Kill people with toothpaste X

6. Kidnap Dynah, Tessa, and Jamie for a little "chat" X

7. Leave note about killing Sherlock X

8. Crate arrives with the people who have the Bubonic Plague X

9. Kidnap Jamie X

10. Train Jamie X

11. Kill girl with Marshmallows X

Really Sherlock, you're letting this list grow rather long, and your not putting up much of a fight. Really disappointing, Sherlock. Even Jamie thinks so. - J.M xx"

"You know, you're really just a sick and twisted human being." Jamie said.

"You act as though you've just figured this out, Jamie." Moriarty laughed.

"I figured it out when I first met you." Jamie said.

"Oh, you mean when you deceived Sherlock, John, Tessa and Dynah, by contacting me and practically convincing me to start this game?" Moriarty said, grinning.

"I didn't convince you to start any game. You came to that decision on your own, Jim."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Jamie. But you did go against your own friends."

"Maybe. But I had a reason for it. After the first murder. You were going to start a game anyways, and I knew that Sherlock wouldn't have been able to solve it, seeing as he couldn't make a connection between you and the murder of those 2 people. You paid the priest to do it, yes, but you were behind it." Jamie said.

"Clever girl." Moriarty chuckled.

"Not really. Doesn't take a genius to figure it out. I saw material from your Westwood suit in the priests flat. Uncle John has mentioned that suit a lot of times, and I knew that priests can't afford that kind of quality of a suit. Only explanation being you. Also you carved your initial into his kitchen table. However his initials were J.M too, so Scotland Yard thought nothing of it."

"But yet you said nothing to Sherlock or John. Nothing to your 'best friends'." Moriarty laughed.

"There is a reason behind everything that I do, Jim. You should know that by now."

Jamie looked out the window onto the street below them. They were staying in a flat now in London, not very far from St. Bart's Hospital. Jamie often wondered if she would be able to sneak out during the night in order to go and see Molly so that she could tell her how everything was going to end, so that at least one person, other than herself, knew how this was all going to work out. However this plan would end in complete disaster with both Molly and herself being killed, Sherlock, John, Tessa and Dynah probably following shortly after them. Though Jamie wanted to get as far away from this psychopath as possible, she knew that she had to play her part in this game. Her part was to help Moriarty now. She wasn't keen on it and had tried to find ways to make the game easier so that perhaps Moriarty would lose and interest in her and let her go, even though he would probably just kill her. It wasn't even like Sherlock or any of them could come and rescue her because they would all just be killed then. Jamie really had no options when it came to this. The one thing she was thankful for was that Moriarty never made her plan out people's deaths. Just the clues. At least he wasn't completly sick and twisted and he didn't make a 15 year old plan people's murders. It wasn't like she would be charged if she did anyways, seeing as she was kidnapped and being held against her will.

"You're boring me, Jamie." Moriarty sighed.

"Oh, I'm sorry, was I supposed to be entertaining you? Forgive, I don't have the entirety of Hamlet memorized yet." Jamie said, dryly.

"Humorous. But really Jamie, you're so dull! What happened to the girl I kidnapped?" Moriarty said, frowning.

"She decided to be an introvert and not interact with her captor as much as possible." Jamie said, smiling.

"Weren't you an introvert before? When you lived in Canada?"

"Yes, but that's a different matter."

"Wow. How the hours must fly by."

"I used to write stories to occupy my time."

"Boring!" Moriarty said.

"Not necessarily. All depends on what I was writing."

"All teenagers write about the same things." Moriarty sighed.

"Well I wrote superhero stories, and some other things, just little shorts. Most of them were rather dark for a kid my age, but I didn't have the best of luck. I used to write a lot murder mysteries. Though rather, in stead of the mystery being solved, the person trying to solve it was usually killed." Jamie said.

"Now isn't that interesting? Sounds like how things are going to end between Sherlock and I." Moriarty laughed.

"Unless Sherlock wins." Jamie smirked.

"He won't." Moriarty said, looking angry all of a sudden.

"We'll see how the game plays out." Jamie chuckled.

"You know exactly how it is going to play out. You know how all of this is going to end. How could he possibly win?" Moriarty asked.

"Very easily. But I won't ruin it for you." Jamie smiled.

"Sherlock, what do you think he is waiting for?" John asked.

"I'm not sure John. You act as though all of this is easy to predict when really it isn't. I can not give you answers as to what Moriarty is planning right now, because even I do not know." Sherlock said.

"Why did we chose to stay here. I just thought 'hey we'll help them with a case or two.' Not that I'd have to deal with a psychopath who's kidnapped my best friend." Dynah said.

"I saw this coming. Excluding the kidnapping." Tessa said.

"You didn't see my kidnapping coming? I wish somebody had." Jamie said, standing in the flats doorway.

"Jamie, what are you doing here?" John asked. "Is-"

"No, Moriarty isn't with me. He thinks it's appropriate that I should be allowed to visit you guys. Honestly, the guy is really a lot more messed up than you could even imagine. Oh he also allowed me to stop by because I'm supposed to give you something." Jamie said.

"What is it?" Tessa asked.

"Oh right. Catch. Only Sherlock and I are permitted to see it." Jamie said.

Sherlock and Jamie walked into the kitchen of the flat and Jamie took out the package that Moriarty had given her and slid it across the counter over to Sherlock, he looked at her and picked up the package that had been slid towards him. It was a small package, wrapped in brown paper and tied with a thread. Sherlock untied the bow and then slowly unwrapped the paper. Inside was a ring box. Sherlock studied it carefully before opening it slowly and finding a note on the inside.

"If you were expecting a ring, well then, Sherlock, I do apologize. You know how much I hate to disappoint. Now this letter is just to update you on the current situation. Now even though I have kidnapped Jamie and threatened all of your lives, she still refuses to properly co-operate and help with my plans to bring you to your untimely demise. I suggest you convince her otherwise, Sherlock, because right now, her life is in your hands. If I don't have a purpose for her, than she is just a dead weight.- J.M xx"

"Sorry about this, Sherlock. But it's not like I really have much of a choice anyways." Jamie laughed nervously.

"Jamie... you need to listen to whatever Moriarty is telling you to do." Sherlock said.

"I'm not going to, Sherlock." Jamie said.

"This isn't a question of where your loyalties lie anymore, Jamie. This is now a question of whether or not you want to live. I don't care what you do or what you plan, because I'm still going to win this, but you don't need to concern yourself with us anymore. Focus on yourself and staying alive. Your no good to any of us dead." Sherlock said.

"You're right. I wish I could say more about what's going on, but the risk of getting shot in the head is too high right now. I really should get going. Oh and one more thing. Moriarty wanted me to send his love..." Jamie said, rolling her eyes.

With that, Jamie walked out of 221B, not saying good-bye to anyone. Jamie walked down onto Baker Street, when a car pulled up in front of the flat and the window rolled down.

"Did you have a fun visit? I do hope that Sherlock gave you some words of advice." Moriarty asked.

"Whatever the hell you want I'll do it. I'm no good to anyone if I'm dead." Jamie said, hatefully.

"Oh good, it seems that we've finally come to an understanding!" Moriarty sang. "Now get in the car, we have meetings to go to."

Tessa and Dynah watched from the window of 221B Baker Street as their best friend got into a car with the biggest psychopath alive. John was just sitting in his chair, hand covering his mouth to stop himself from screaming useless things. Sherlock walked out of the kitchen, a tray of tea in his hands and he gave one to all of them. He didn't normally make tea. No, that was John's job, but he felt that given the circumstances, it would be fair to do it for them just this once. He wasn't happy about the current situation and he could hardly call it fair that he had to convince Jamie to plan all their demise. But he knew that none of them really had an option or say in the matter, so it was better just to go along with Moriarty's demands. Once everyone was done their tea, Sherlock slipped on his coat and scarf and left the flat. There was another part of the message that Moriarty had sent to him. It had been hidden under the base of the ring box. Just a small little piece of paper. Perhaps Jamie knew about it, perhaps she didn't.

"Dorchester Hotel. 3:00 in the pm! Thought we could go for some high-tea.- J.M xx"

Sherlock couldn't help but to chuckle at the thought of all of this. Moriarty asking him out to tea. But to discuss what exactly? What could be so important for him and Moriarty to discuss at a fancy hotel. It wasn't like it mattered, it would be completely irrelevent and more than less likely lead to a conversation about the girls involvement in their game. Sherlock realized that this had been Moriarty's goal from the beginning, to use the girls against Sherlock. At the beginning of this whole thing, perhaps it wouldn't of mattered, but like John, the girls were beginning to grow on him, he couldn't deny that, which was why he was so willing to ensure their safety. Sherlock looked at the time, noting that it was 2:26 pm. It was a 26 minute walk from Baker Street to The Dorchester Hotel, so he decided to walk there. It was 2:52 pm when he arrived at The Dorchester. He walked inside and he saw Moriarty sitting at a table. Sherlock walked over and took a seat next to him and Moriarty smiled.

"Oh hello, Sherly. I see that you got my invitation." Moriarty smiled.

"Is there something you required, Moriarty?" Sherlock asked.

"There are a lot of things that I require from you, Sherlock Holmes. One of them is that you die. I won't name the others." Moriarty laughed.

"Where is Jamie? I'm surprised that you even let her out of your sight." Sherlock said.

"She has her own meetings to attend to,Sherlock. We both have rather hectic schedules." Moriarty said, drinking his tea.

"So she's doing your dirty work for you? That's low even for you Moriarty. She's only 15 years ol-"

"Actually she's 16 now. October 2nd. Too bad you missed it. However we were in Edinburgh at the time. Couldn't really invite you to the party." Moriarty said.

"Interesting. The lie we told Scotland was that she was in Scotland, seeing if your clues had anything to do with it." Sherlock smirked.

"What can I say, Sherlock? Great minds think alike." Moriarty sighed out.

"We do not think alike, Moriarty." Sherlock glared.

"We are more alike than you would ever like to admit, Sherlock." Moriarty laughed.

"Hello. I came here to talk. I've been thinking lately. About you and me. About what's going to happen to us, in the end. We're going to kill each other, aren't we? Perhaps you'll kill me. Perhaps I'll kill you. Perhaps sooner. Perhaps later. I just wanted to know that I made a genuine attempt to talk things over an avert that outcome. Just once. Are you even listening to me? It's life and death I'm discussing here. Maybe my death... maybe yours. I don't fully understand why ours should be such a fatal relationship,but I don't want your murder on my...hands..."

Sherlock quoted.

"Oh now wasn't that beautiful. The Killing Joke by Alan Moore. I quoted it to Jamie when I first kidnapped her. She seemed rather impressed by my knowledge of the comic. It simply caught my attention because well the Joker and the Batman. It's kind of like you and I, isn't it? Batman isn't seen as a hero, because he considers himself to be above the law, almost like you. And the Joker, well he's a psychopath, like me. They won't even kill each other, because it's just too much fun playing these games with each other. But eventually the Joker gets bored, and he does try to kill the Batman. However he doesn't succeed, because comic books aren't like real life. In comic books the bad guy always loses, where as in reality, those who work on the side of the angels are always those who have to fall from grace." Moriarty smiled.

"Is that what you plan to do? Make me fall from grace?" Sherlock asked.

"Perhaps, Sherlock. Only Jamie and I really know how all of this is going to turn out."

"You're enjoying this aren't you? This confusion. This game."

"I enjoy it immensely, Sherlock. The rush I get from this is like nothing I've ever felt before."

"What will you do once the game is over? You'll have nothing." Sherlock said.

"Oh that's not true. I'll still have your little sidekicks. After all I know that they are staying here for a few years now. Some special program, Jamie was telling me about. Oh and if you're concerned, I'm still going to let her go to school, even if she doesn't really need it." Moriarty said.

"It was not a concern of mine either." Sherlock said.

Moriarty chuckled in his seat and began to eat off of the tray that had been placed in front of them some time ago. Sherlock decided that tea would sustain him for now, and he watched Moriarty eat the scones with devon cream as well as the finger sandwiches that had been set out. Moriarty had stopped talking for some reason, so Sherlock excused himself to go to the washroom. The washrooms inside of this hotel were rather well done, even so much as having a vanity and furniture set up like a sitting room in front. Sherlock pulled out his phone and brought up the tracker. He turned it on, and it seemed as though he was now able to track Jamie's phone. It said she was at the Dorchester. Sherlock looked confused and he heard a chuckle coming from behind him. Moriarty.

"You don't honestly think I let Jamie carry this phone around with do you? That would be awfully stupid and naive of me. She has one that's only made to call me and certain other contacts. Any other numbers and it blows up and kills her." Moriarty said.

"Why do you have to involve her. She has nothing to do with th-" Sherlock said.

"She has everything to do with this! As do Tessa and Dynah. I could have taken any of the girls, but I took Jamie because she is the most like me and the most likely to give in to psychotic urges. She'll start to feel them eventually, Sherlock and that's what you're afraid of. If she goes crazy, and we all know that it wouldn't take much to drive her there. Do you know why she has post traumatic stress disorder, Sherlock?"

"I can guess why." Sherlock said.

"Well she told me, not like she had a choice to do it, but it was rather a sad story, heart breaking really, but all it would take is for me to make all of it become real for her again and she would snap like a twig, Sherlock."

"You really think that she is that weak? That she will snap that easily? You honestly underestimate her Moriarty. That, or she hasn't shown you her real potential."

"She hasn't yet, but she will." Moriarty smiles.

Suddenly, Sherlock's phone went off.

"Another message from Moriarty! Head to Hampton Court! ASAP! Love, Tessa and Dynah."

Sherlock looked up and glared at Moriarty.

"Have fun with this one. I'll be sure to make this one a lot more fun than the last."

Chapter 11

Sherlock stared at Moriarty and he just laughed and left the washroom. Sherlock knew that he didn't have the time to go after him, so he decided to just leave and to take the tube to Hampton Court in order to solve this part of the game. he knew that because Moriarty had been there with him, that it was Jamie who had left the message. Of course, Sherlock was going to keep this information away from Tessa, Dynah, and John. Of course they knew that she was involved in the clues, but they wouldn't think that Moriarty would make her leave them. It was better that they didn't know, seeing as it would cloud their goals for this game and make them more focused on rescuing Jamie, which in turn would get them all killed. Once Sherlock arrived at Hampton Court, it was easy enough to find where the message was because Lestrade, John, Tessa and Dynah were already there. He always seemed to be the last person to arrive anywhere. He walked over to them and he saw what he was looking for. There had been a message left painted on the inside of the arch that led into Hampton Court. the paint type was acrylic and the message had been written in multiple different colours, with a picture of a white rabbit and a caterpillar at the bottom of it. The message read:

"And when you go...chasing rabbits. And you know you're going to fall. Tell 'em a hookah...smoking caterpillar has given you the call. Call Alice. When she was just small. When the man on the chessboard, get up and tell you where to go, and you've just had some kind of mushroom and your mind is moving low. Go ask Alice. I think she'll know. When logic...and proportion have fallen sloppy dead. And the white knight is talking backwards and the red queens off with her head, remember what the door mouse said. Feed your head. Feed you head.- J.M xx"

"It's lyrics to a song." Dynah said.

"A song? What song?" Lestrade asked.

"White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane."Tessa said.

"It sounds like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll." John said.

"It's meant to. The song is about taking hallucinogenic drugs. A popular theory was that Lewis Carroll was high when he wrote the story of Alice. I'm surprised that none of you know the song. It was released in 1967, which is way before we were born, but we know it." Dynah said.

"Some of us chose not to focus on certain types of music when they were growing up." Sherlock said.

"Yes, Sherlock. We're aware that you were more focused on classical music." Tessa said.

"What do you think this message is supposed to lead you too? It's not necessarily clear as to where you're supposed to go." Lestrade said.

"Lewis Carroll, otherwise known as Charles Dodgson, was born in Daresbury, Chesire, England. It's exactly where we have to go." Sherlock said.

"And how did you get that, from this? It's not even really that related." Lestrade said.

"It's purposely not directly related. The point is to look into the story of the song, not just the song in itself or the band who wrote it. This song speaks of specific things directly related to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland thus making it the thing we need to look for. Where better to look that to where the man who created it all was born and grew up?" Tessa said.

"If you're wrong about this-" Lestrade started.

"Have we been wrong yet? No, we haven't and we won't be this time." Dynah said.

They got Lestrade to drive them Daresbury, seeing as once more it was a rather long drive to get there and Sherlock and John really could not afford to keep paying cab fare for such long rides. They were in the car fro 3 hours and 28 minutes before they finally arrived in Daresbury. It was a rather small town and Sherlock wondered why Moriarty had sent them here. They looked around, not noticing anything strange, or anything peculiar. As they were walking around, they all kept hearing this sound, almost like the ticking of a pocket watch. They all looked around but they couldn't seem to find the source of the noise. It wasn't until a white rabbit, hopped out of the bushes and ran away that they realized exactly what was going on. They chased after the rabbit and soon they found themselves in front of a well. There was nothing covering it and there was a ladder leading down into the ground. They all slowly began to proceed down the well and eventually found themselves in a well lit series of tunnels. However, which direction they were supposed to go in was unclear, seeing as the directions were written in a way that nobody could understand. There was a sign in the middle that had arrows pointing to certain directions, but they were not written in any language that Sherlock could understand. However they heard the ticking sound once more and followed it down the left hand path. The ticking noise got louder the further along the path they moved. As they continued walking through the watery path, they didn't talk to each other, not wanting to make anymore sound than necessary so they could hear the ticking. They finally reached a large, open room. There is still water surrounding them, but there is a small island of land in the middle of all of it. Stalactites and stalagmites surround the cave and it looks as though they were made on purpose. As if this whole room had been made by man, and not by nature. On the island, there was a table and a chair in the middle of it, as well as a steaming cup of tea. Sherlock approached the table first, and everyone else followed behind him and when he looked down on the table he saw that there was a microphone and a pocket watch. The microphone's cord led off down another tunnel, and Lestrade followed it, to see where it went. Another thing that lay on the table was a note. It had been made to look old, using tea bags and burning the edges of the paper. Something that a child would do for a project in school. Sherlock picked up the piece of paper from off the table, and he couldn't help the small smile that formed on his face as he read the words written on it.

"Do you have to ruin every piece of classical literature? It makes me never want to pick up a book again." Jamie said, obviously annoyed.

"I'm not ruining it. Merely twisting it so that is becomes useful in my plans, but I'm hardly ruining it. If anything I'm making it more thrilling." Moriarty laughed.

"You really have a way of putting me off reading." Jamie said, throwing the book that she had been holding in her hand across the room.

"Is that anyway to treat a book? Really, Jamie I thought you had more respect for the written word."

"Your book, not mine. Thus I don't care." Jamie said quickly.

"I see." Moriarty said, looking slightly agitated.

"You know, I never really liked Alice's Adventures in Wonderland when I was a kid. Didn't really appeal to me as much as other stories did. Not sure why. I only started to like it as I got older. Mad Hatter used to frighten in me in the old Disney version of the story." Jamie said, speaking more to the air, rather than to Moriarty.

"I rather liked the Mad Hatter. I found his insanity...amusing." Moriarty smirked.

"You would." Jamie said, rolling her eyes.

"Are all teenagers as infuriating?" Moriarty asked.

"Are all psychopaths this destructive?" Jamie replied.

"Perhaps when you grow up you'll be more tolerable."

"I highly doubt that. If anything, I'll just grow more irritating with age."

"I can't see that being possible."

"Oh it is. I grew up in reverse. I was more like an adult when I was a child, and more like a child not that I am becoming an adult. Strange isn't it? Almost like that story where the man was born an old man and aged back into a baby? You know, The Curious Case of Benjiman Button? Except it's my personality that's going backwards isn't it? Instead of my body." Jamie said, looking up thoughtfully.

"You talk entirely too much. I should just shoot you and be done."

"Then go ahead and shoot me. It wouldn't do you any good to kill me anyways. And perhaps I would not talk so much if there was actually something to do. I am positively bored." Jamie huffed.

"Boredom is the most destructive thing of all. All the things an idle mind can come up with. Quite a dangerous thing."

"Indeed." Jamie glared at him.

"I wonder what you could come up with that idle mind of yours. After all, most teenagers make rash decisions, even their thoughts are rash, so I can only imagine the thoughts that are running through your head."

"You can only imagine because I don't feel like sharing them." Jamie smiled.

"How unfortunate for you, because you really don't have much of an option."

"Have I told you how much I despise you lately?" Jamie asked.

"30 times today."

"I despise you. Make it 31." Jamie said, getting up and walking out of the room.

"

'But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.

'Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: 'we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.'

'How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.

'You must be' said the Cat 'or you wouldn't have come here.' -J.M xx"

"It's a quote directly taken from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. With Alice and Chesire Cat." Dynah said.

"What does it mean though?" John asked.

"He's making a point." Sherlock said.

"Are you sure it was him and not Jamie?" Tessa whispered, even though Lestrade was still gone, searching where the cord led to.

"It's him. You can tell by the last two sentences. He's saying that we are no different than him. That we are the exact same. Just as insane. Just as psychotic." Sherlock said.

Lestrade ran back into the cavern. "The cord leads into this very large electric box, that looks like it control nearly everything in the town. It was projected all over town so we would hear it." Lestrade said, out of breath.

"But why lead us down here? Why leave the clue here at all?"

"Don't you see it, John? We followed a white rabbit here. We've gone down the rabbit hole." Tessa laughed.

"This just keeps getting crazier as we go along." Lestrade mumbled.

"Of course it does. We're dealing with a psychopath, are we not? You can't expect it to be normal can you? If you did, I would be slightly concerned for your mental health, Inspector." Dynah said.

"Where is this supposed to lead us to next?" John asked.

"No where, John." Sherlock said.

"No where?" Than what are we supposed to do? Just go back to the flat?" John asked.

"You really don't get it do you, John? This is 'Wonderland' or 'Underland'. We are exactly where we need to be to find all of our answers." Sherlock said, not understanding John's confusion with the whole situation.

"It's all a real life metaphor, John. We are literally down a metaphorical rabbit hole." Tessa said.

"But why? What's the purpose?" Lestrade asked.

"It will all tie together in the end. That's all that matters." Dynah said.

"Now there are many different tunnels throughout this cavern. It will be like a maze, but we have to make sure that we find what we need." Sherlock mumbled.

"And what exactly is it that we need, Sherlock? What the bloody hell are we supposed to be looking for down here?"

"We're down the rabbit hole aren't we? Which means we are in Wonderland. We need to find the Chesire Cat. After all we are in Chesire." Sherlock grinned.

"You know that Chesire is a comic book character too." Dynah said.

Tessa and Sherlock glared at her.

"Just stating a fact. No need to glare." Dynah mumbled.

"We have to find a cat? Down here?" Lestrade asked.

"It could be a cat. Or it could be something else. Something related but somehow unrelated." Sherlock mumbled again.

"Was that supposed to make any sense?" Lestrade asked John.

"Just let them figure it out for now. If they can understand each other, we'll be fine." John sighed.

"The quote chosen talks about not only the people of Underland being mad, but of Alice being mad herself." Tessa said.

"Is that relevant though? It could have absolutely nothing to do with any of this?" Dynah said.

"He meant it exactly like that. This has everything to do with us being in a world surrounded by mad people. In a Mad World."

"Oh joy, now that song is going to be stuck in my head." Dynah whispered to Tessa who held back her laughter.

"But how does that relate to these caverns? To any of this?" Lestrade asked.

"Like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland we have gone down the rabbit hole into a world that we do not know. Lots of things can happen. It's easy enough for a man to go crazy when he doesn't understand the things that are going on around him. When he begins to panic. Moriarty is testing our sanity. If we can make it out of this maze with the clue that we need, then we pass the test. Or fail it." Sherlock said.

"How is that possible? To both fail and pass?" Dynah asked.

"If we get the clue then we pass, but we also fail because it might just prove how insane we really are." Sherlock mumbled.

"You can't both win and lose, Sherlock." Lestrade said.

"It is very possible to both win and lose, especially in the case of if one wants to win one must lose one's mind!" Sherlock said.

"Is he alright?" Lestrade whispered to John.

"You act as if I can tell." John whispered back.

"SHUT UP!" Sherlock yelled.

"How did he hear u-" Lestrade started.

"SHUT UP! I NEED TO THINK!" Sherlock yelled again.

"Oh crap." Dynah huffed.

Sherlock turned around the room several times, hands gripping his hair, trying to think of what he needed to do. What was Moriarty's goal in this, besides leading them to a body? There was something in it for him. Something that he wanted to achieve through this. To make them mad? Or to make them think that they were mad? All of the possibilities ran through Sherlock's head, and it seemed as though time was frozen as he sorted through every possible reason why Moriarty had planned this and how they would find the next clue without getting lost. Suddenly it all clicked in Sherlock's head, like find the last piece to the puzzle.

"Red and White." Sherlock answered.

'What?" Lestrade and John asked at the same time.

"In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland she goes to the Red Queen's Castle and painted her white roses red." Sherlock said.

"What does that have to do with anything?" John asked.

"Did you not notice! On our way through the caverns, there were painting of red or white roses on each entrance to the cavern. At first I thought we had to follow the red rose, but no! We have to follow the paths marked by the white rose-" Sherlock started.

"Because those are the roses Alice saw first and changed." Tessa finished.

"Exactly. We have to follow the path Alice set."

They looked around the cavern and saw the one tunnel that had a white rose marking it. They walked away from the pocket watch and the note and began to follow the paths marked by the white rose. Dynah and Tessa found it odd that Moriarty had put such effort into this. It seemed out of character for him. There was so much more detail in this part of the game, over the other parts. As they walked down the water filled paths, they began to notice that some of the white flowers had little specks of red on them that slowly began to grow with each new path. Almost as if Alice was painting them. Suddenly they came to a fork in the road. There were now two paths, both designated with red roses. Which path to go down. Which way led to the next clue? Tessa stepped forward and looked at both of the roses. They looked almost identical, nearly everything was the same, except for one small detail. A tiny little bit of red was dripping down off a petal in one of the pictures. Like fresh red paint would fall off a flower petal. Tessa led them down this path and sure enough there was another small patch of land in the middle of the water, and a table on it. When they approached the table, it had a white rose that had been painted red on it and another note, this time written on an old dried up leaf.

"How queer everything is today! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is, Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle! - J.M xx"

"Too obvious for my liking." Sherlock said in distaste.

"This is obvious how?" John asked.

"Oh don't be so naive, John. The quote, though from the book, is relating back to the actual 'Alice'!" Sherlock said.

"The actual Alice? Anybody want to give me a clue?" Lestrade asked.

"Alice Liddel. The real Alice. Lewis Carroll or Charles Dodgson met a girl named Alice Liddel and he told her stories where she was the main character and of her adventures in Wonderland and she demanded that he write it down." Tessa said.

"Where are we going to find her?" Lestrade asked.

"Probably 6 feet underground. But her father was the Dean of Christ College in Oxford. That's where we need to go because that is also where she first met Charles Dodgson." Sherlock said.

"How do we know that's where Moriarty wants us to go?" John asked.

"Because she is who Alice was when she woke up that morning. Not who she was later on." Dynah smiled.

They found there way back out of the well Lestrade drove them all to Oxford. It was another 2 hours and 38 minutes in the car, with Sherlock trying to think ahead of all of this and what they would possibly find when they reached Christ College. Once they got there, the place seemed very dead. Never a good thing when Moriarty is involved. This was further down the rabbit hole than anybody had expected. Moriarty seemed to be going full out into this plan, however it could have possibly be Jamie. Jamie, though she didn't want to could have been forced to aid Moriarty in this entire plan. It made more sense, with how detailed and elaborate the plan was compared to the others, and Sherlock knew that Jamie liked things to be done in the best way possible. It was a weakness that Moriarty was willing to exploit.

"Do you think they made it out of the caverns by now?" Jamie asked, as she lay out on the sofa, staring out the window.

"Hopefully. I would be rather disappointed if they haven't." Moriarty replied.

"I figured you would know. Don't you usually have men watching them?" Jamie replied.

"I do. But I haven't felt inclined to check on them." Moriarty drawled out, playing with ring on his finger.

"I see. Though I do concur with you. I will be highly disappointed if they aren't out of the caverns by now. Or if they haven't realized that I planned out this part of the game." Jamie said.

"It is fairly obvious. I never go through such extensive procedures to play this game. It is rather amusing."

"Alice was your idea though. I just planned out how to use it correctly."

"Your design skills did come in handy for the cavern."

"What can I say? Design is a talent I happen to have and studied. Worthwhile course." Jamie smiled.

"Too bad there isn't a class on how to properly bomb something." Moriarty frowned.

"Don't need one. My art teacher showed me all the weak points of even the most stable structures. Take those parts out and the building is gone." Jamie laughed.

"Your art teacher taught you this? Amusing. I always thought art teachers acted all whimsical and annoyingly connected to their emotions."

"No. That's only the flakes. I'm pretty sure my teacher was an anarchist in a past life, but I can never be sure." Jamie sighed.

"You must have enjoyed your art class. You speak rather fondly of it."

"Why should you care. I'm just a pawn in your game. Nothing important. Don't try to patronize me with your mock caring routine. It is rather boring." Jamie glared.

"You're a lot more charming when you're angry. When you're happy you're just annoying and smug."

"It's called being a teenager, Jim. I thought you'd be used to it by now, for how long I have been in your 'delightful company'." Jamie said.

"Don't worry Jamie, you won't have to stand my company much longer. You just have to wait until little Sherly goes just far enough down the rabbit hole, that it will be impossible for him to dig himself out."

Chapter 12

Christ College was dead. Not a soul around to even make a sound. John and Lestrade seemed tense and extremely wary, where as Sherlock, Tessa, and Dynah were calm. They knew what to expect out of this, knew what Moriarty was planning. There wouldn't be a catastrophic amount of bodies. Moriarty doesn't do that, unless he has a reason to. He promised to kill 80 people. He wouldn't do it now so was still too much time left in his game. Sherlock knew this, was waiting for it. As soon as the 80 people were killed, Sherlock knew he had to be ready for whatever Moriarty had planned for him. What he had planned for all of them.

"Sherlock, what exactly are we looking for?" Lestrade asked.

"A clue. Obviously." Sherlock stated.

"I know that, but how do we even know where to look? It's not like this place is small."

"Chesire wasn't small either." Sherlock stated.

"No, but we had a bloody rabbit to lead us to where we needed to go." Lestrade huffed.

"Everything is layed right out in front of us. We're just too blind to see it." Dynah mumbled, so that only Tessa could hear her.

"Sherlock, where are we going to possibly find this clue? If you haven't noticed this isn't a small place, just like Greg said before. You can't expect the clue to just appear out of nowhere." John said.

As soon as the words left John's lips, the sound of an old wooden door slowly creaking open, and the sound of small heels clicking on a cement floor. Sherlock turned around to see a girl standing on the steps in front of one of the buildings. She had long straight blonde hair, and a small blue head band in her hair. She was wearing a blue dress, hand made out silk, clearly expensive to make. Dress had frills at the bottom, but the dress was only a little bit past her knees. She was wearing all black shoes, with a tiny heel at the bottom, and white stockings. She looked extremely nervous, but she looked up to them and walked down the steps towards them. Sherlock was about to move closer to her, but Dynah and Tessa pushed him back and moved closer.

"Are you alright?" Tessa asked.

The girl shook her head, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Is everybody safe?" Dynah asked.

The girl nodded her head.

"Just not you?" Tessa asked.

Again, the girl nodded her head.

"Did he leave a message for us? The man who did this?" Dynah asked.

The girl nodded her head.

"What is it?"

The girl made a hand gesture that told us to follow her. They began to walk up the streets of Oxford, until they reached Exeter College. They walked inside, following the little girl who was shaking with fear, and trying to force her tears away. Sherlock and the rest of them followed 'Alice' throughout the college until she stopped and pointed ahead. Inside a glass case was a bust. The bust of J.R.R Tolkien. They all looked at each other in mild confusion. All of the events leading up to now had been related to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, but yet here they were, standing in front of something completely irrelevant. Dynah walked over to the girl once again.

"What was the message he left you with?" Dynah asked, lowering herself bending her knees in order to make the little girl more comfortable.

The girl pulled out a piece of paper that had been in a pocket inside of her dress. It looked as though it had been ripped out of a book and she slowly unfolded the paper, her small hands shaking as she tried to read the paper without crying.

"Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,

Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,

Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,

One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne

In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,

One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. Love Jim."

The girl read off the paper.

As soon as the girl finished reading the words, she began to cry and dropped to the floor. Dynah and Tessa made sure that she was alright, but the girl was crying hysterically and it would be a long time until she calmed down. Lestrade wanted to ask her questions, but Sherlock and John insisted that if she even attempted to tell them anything, she would be killed before she could even utter a word. Eventually word reached them that each of the schools had been evacuated prior to their arrival due to a bomb threat and had all headed to a separate location. Clearly a way to set this up without a distraction. Eventually the girls parents came and took her home. They had no idea what had happened to her, or this entire situation. When asked, the girl simply said that she had gotten lost while playing 'Alice'. Of course all 5 of them knew that she had told this lie in order to protect her own life. She couldn't have been more that 8 years old, and already she had experienced something that would haunt her for the rest of her life. Sherlock was pondering over the clue left by Moriarty. Why had he changed it all of a sudden? Why? Why keep up this consistency of Alice, if it was just going to change so drastically.

"What was that passage from? Last I checked, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland didn't have elves, dwarfs, or dark lords." Lestrade said.

"It's from The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien. That's who the bust is of." Tessa said, pointing down the hallway to where the bust was.

"But why switch to Tolkien? Other than the fact that those books are amazing." Dynah said.

"Tolkien did live in Oxford for a large sum of his life, not to mention that he was a Professor at Oxford University." Tessa said.

"The man made a literary work of art, that is still read and treasured to this day. The book was written well, and contains the story of breaking ones usual habits and going on an adventure. This happened in both The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and The Silmarillion. All about unexpected creatures going on unexpected adventures." Sherlock said.

"That's kind of like them showing up here." John said, talking about Tessa and Dynah.

"Offensive taken. Anyways, what we need to focus on is what he's referring to with this." Tessa said.

"Twenty Three." Sherlock said.

"What?' they all asked.

"That's how many people are going to die this time." Sherlock said.

"How could you possibly know that?" Lestrade asked.

"Simple. Count the numbers in the clue he left. Three. Seven. Nine. One. One. One. One." Tessa stated.

"Jesus Christ." Lestrade mumbled.

"I'm pretty sure Jesus can't save anybody right now." Dynah said.

"But where do we have to go to find him. It can't be Oxford University. Too easy. Where?" Sherlock asked himself.

"Bournemouth." Tessa mumbled, thinking to herself out loud.

Sherlock snapped his head in her direction. "What did you just say?"

"Bournemouth?" Tessa asked.

"Why would you say that?" Sherlock asked.

"That's where J.R.R Tolkien and his wife retired." Tessa said.

"Brilliant! Lestrade we're driving to Bournemouth.!" Sherlock exclaimed.

"Sherlock I can not possibly afford to drive to all of these places!" Lestrade claimed. "Besides it's not in my jurisdiction!"

"Forget about your money and your jurisdiction! We are trying to solve a case and sometimes that includes having to make sacrifices and take risks!" Sherlock yelled.

Lestrade rolled his eyes, but led them to his car anyways and began to drive them to Bournemouth, which was going to take them about 2 hours and 3 minutes. Sherlock wasn't all too thrilled about this, but he knew that it was for the sake of the game. It was better to play the game, find bodies, and save other lives, rather than ignore what Moriarty was asking for.

"I'm bored." Jamie said, throwing the book she had been reading on the floor.

"You're always bored." Moriarty said, glancing up from his own book.

"You never entertain me, and I've read that book before." Jamie said.

"Than pick another."

"Can't be bothered." Jamie said, curling up into a ball.

"You're rather lazy." Moriarty pointed out.

"I'm aware of my flaws." Jamie yawned.

"Not sleeping?" Moriarty smirked.

"Kind of difficult when you're living in the same place as a psychopath." Jamie mumbled.

"You're becoming intolerable." Moriarty said.

"Oh are you going to kill me now then?" Jamie asked.

"No. I'm just going to give you a warning." Moriarty smiled.

"I think I'd rather take death." Jamie said.

"It was your choice. You've bothered me too much."

"Hopefully whatever you have in mind will not be exceedingly painful."

"Don't worry, Jamie." Moriarty laughed."It's something you've experienced before."

When Sherlock, Lestrade, John, Tessa and Dynah all arrived in Bournemouth, they were surprised to see it surrounded by police cars and ambulances. Sherlock was the first to step out of the car and try to get into the town. A police officer stopped him.

"Sorry, Sir. Towns under quarantine." the man said.

"For what?" Dynah yelled.

"Unexplainable illness." the cop answered.

"What happened? How many dead?" Sherlock asked.

"That is classified information."

Sherlock pulled out a document from his jacket and held it up to the police officer. The paper, obviously very well forged, said that he was Mycroft Holmes, and since his brother was the British Government he had the right to go wherever he wanted. The cops eyes widened and he quickly moved aside, allowing Sherlock passed, and he motioned for Lestrade, John, Tessa and Dynah to follow him. The cop stopped Tessa and Dynah.

"I'm not sure it's a good idea to let these young girls see this." The cop said.

"I assure you that they will be fine and that there is no need to worry about them. They have seen enough murders to be desensitized to death, now let them through." Sherlock said.

The cop reluctantly let the girls follow Sherlock into town and at first they saw nothing, nothing but a barren town. It wasn't until they walked further they found what they needed. Lying on the ground were 23 bodies. All of them with blood covering their faces. Sherlock walked closer to examine them. The blood had seeped out of their pours, and they had all died from blood loss. Lestrade and John were looking around with wide, confused eyes.

"What happened here?" John asked.

"It's very obvious what happened." Tessa said, looking towards the bodies, eyes unblinking.

"What was it? What killed them?" Lestrade asked.

"The Masque of the Red Death." Dynah and Tessa answered together.

Chapter 13

"The what?" Lestrade and John asked.

"It's a short story written by Edgar Allen Poe. It's about a disease coming to this kingdom and the Prince and all the royals, hide up in their palace and do nothing to help their kingdom. At a masquerade, held by the king, somebody with the disease sneaks in and spreads it to everyone in the palace, killing them all." Tessa said.

"Christ." Lestrade said, running his hand through his hair.

"How is this going to lead us to anything?" John asked.

"Simple enough. There is a masquerade at Buckingham Palace tonight. Of course it is all by invitation, but I'm sure that Moriarty somehow managed to not only place himself on the list, but us as well." Sherlock said.

"Though I do doubt that you'll be invited, Inspector. Apologies, but I highly doubt Moriarty wants you there." Tessa said.

"What's the point in leading us to a masquerade? He wouldn't dare try to kill somebody there, would he?" Dynah asked.

"We can never predict what he is going to do. He cares very little about the authorities catching him. He has much more important things to be concerned with." Sherlock said, walking away from the crime scene.

There was something off about Moriarty's behaviour. About this whole part of the game. Sherlock knew that Jamie had planned most of this out, evident by the fact that most of the pieces of literature chosen were by some of her favourite authors. Edgar Allen Poe, J.R.R Tolkien. But why The Masque of the Red Death? That wouldn't have been Jamie's idea at all, that would have been entirely Moriarty. Sherlock pulled out his phone and typed out a text.

"We need to meet.-SH"

To which the reply was instantaneous.

"Took you long enough.-JM xx"

They made there way back to 221B Baker Street and upon arrival, all sat down, completely exhausted after the long day of playing Moriarty's game. Sherlock was the only one who was up and alert, knowing that he had to meet Moriarty soon. Of course he wasn't going to tell Dynah, Tessa, or John about this because they would automatically say no and try to stop him from leaving which would waste his valuable time. Sherlock waited until they all dispersed from the sitting room. John going into the kitchen, while Tessa and Dynah went upstairs. He snuck out of the flat and made his way down to Baker Street tube station and took the train to Carnaby Street. He got off at Oxford Circus and made his was down to The Diner, a restaurant on Carnaby. It was very Americanized, but Sherlock assumed that was the appeal behind it. Sherlock walked inside and noticed the place to be extremely dark, most of the colours around the restaurant being a scarlet red or a white. Sherlock looked around and spotted the grinning man in the dark Westwood suit. He made his way towards the table and took a seat across from him.

"Sherlock." Moriarty grinned.

"Moriarty." Sherlock glared.

"Oh Sherlock, formalities are no longer necessary. You can call me Jim."

"I would prefer not to, but I'm assuming you won't give me another option."

"Correct, Sherly." Jim smiled.

A waiter came by and dropped two drinks onto the table. Both of them looked like milkshakes, but Sherlock could tell that there was something off about them. Jim picked on up and took a sip, eyes rolling into the back of his head, clearly over exaggerating how good it was, before looking back to Sherlock.

"They make very good alcoholic milkshakes here,Sherlock. I suggest you try yours."

"I've never been one for alcohol, Jim." Sherlock said.

"There are always times when you should try to step out of your comfort zone, Sherly." Moriarty said, sipping at his drink.

Sherlock was never one to step down from a challenge and Jim knew that. Sherlock hesitantly brought his lips to the straw and began to drink. It tasted sweet at first, with splashes of pineapple and coconut, but when he swallowed, he could taste the bitterness of the alcohol. Jim laughed a little, and brought his focus fully onto Sherlock.

"Was there any reason why making me drink alcohol was necessary?" Sherlock asked.

"No reason. Now, my dear, I have something to give to you." Jim said, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out four envelopes. "Your invitations. Surely you know what they are for."

"Indeed. I thank you." Sherlock said.

"I'm assuming that you're not hungry, Sherlock. You never are when you're on a case."

"Never assume things, Jim." Sherlock smirked.

The same waiter as before soon approached the table. He was quite the character, almost looking like he was trying to depict the stereotypical look of Sweeney Todd but with a modern edge. Clearly not trying to rebel against anything, as most people believed, but rather he was just trying to enjoy himself and not worry about anything. Not necessarily smart, but not as stupid as most of the human population.

"Are you ready to order?" The man asked, clearly noticing that Sherlock and Jim were not the most normal of people.

"Yes. I will be having the burger with ketchup only and fries and he will be having the hot dog with just ketchup and fries. Thank you." Jim said, shooing the man away.

"It appears that I no longer have a say in what I eat anymore." Sherlock said.

"You don't have say in a lot of things don't have a say in whether I kill you or not and you don't have a say in whether or not I kill Jamie, Tessa, Dynah,or John. I can do whatever I want and you can't do anything about it." Jim said.

"I know that you wouldn't do those things because it would ruin your game."

"No stopping me when the game is done."Jim sang.

"I'll always be here to stop you."

"It's cute that you believe that, Sherly."

The waiter came back to give them the food that Jim had ordered and Jim gave him a sweet fake smile, before beginning to eat. Sherlock looked at him in distaste, not understanding the appeal behind food that was clearly not healthy for you. Sherlock was not at all tempted to eat the food that had been placed in front of him, but he knew that Jim would some how force him to eat it. He hesitantly picked it up and began to eat it, grimacing as he did so. No wonder obesity was a growing problem throughout the world. Nevertheless, Sherlock ate it and continued his conversation with Jim.

"Is there any other reason why I was called out here to meet with you?" Sherlock asked.

"Sherlock, if you do not recall, it was you who told me that we had to meet up." Jim stated.

"But you knew that I would want to, so there must have been some motive behind why you wanted me to suggest that we meet each other."

"Always so clever, Sherly and seeing through everyone."Jim smiled. "I only wanted to talk to you and have a nice civil conversation with you." Jim smiled.

"How human of you." Sherlock said.

"Oh Sherlock, both of us are human. But we are better than the rest of the human beings in this world. If only you were more changeable like me, we could be the greatest of partners, Sherlock." Jim sighed, looking off into space.

Sherlock smiled. "I'm not a man likely to change my habits."

"Truly a pity. There are a lot of benefits to working with a man like me." Jim smirked.

"And what would those be, Jim?" Sherlock smiled back.

"Oh, no Sherlock. Only those who work with me get to know."

"Pity for me then." Sherlock replied.

Sherlock and Jim sat there eating the rest of their meals, and paying the bill before walking out of the restaurant. They both stopped outside and looked at each other, Jim having a small, but menacing smile upon his face.

"I look forward to seeing you tonight, Sherlock. Do dress appropriately. After all, this is a masquerade held by the Queen." Jim said, before planting a kiss on Sherlock's cheek, which startled Sherlock slightly.

"So predictable, my dear." Jim giggled and walked away.

Sherlock was left to stand in the middle of the streets of Carnaby. At first he was shocked by Jim's actions, raising his hands to his cheeks to feel the spot where Jim had kissed him. Then Sherlock himself was laughing. Jim had done it to through him off and leave him to wonder what Jim's intentions really were. It was a low blow for Jim, but Sherlock knew that was the type of person Jim was. Sherlock made his way back to 221B Baker Street and barged inside, throwing masquerade masks at all of his flat mates.

"We need to get ready. The masquerade is tonight." Sherlock said.

"Sherlock, none of us have anything to wear to some ball held by the Queen." John stated.

"Already have it covered. Honestly John, I thought you knew me better than that. I'm never unprepared." Sherlock said.

"I really do not want to go to a masquerade. It's just going to be filled with rich people I don't know or care about and I'll be more socially awkward than a turnip." Dynah sighed.

"I just find the whole matter tedious." Tessa sighed.

"Whether you find it tedious or not, we are going. Now please get dressed." Sherlock said, already rushing to his room to and get ready himself. Sherlock was wearing a black tuxedo with a white dress shirt underneath and a simple black tie. He tied a black mask around his face and walked out of his room, ready for the night ahead. When he walked out into the sitting room, he noticed that the front door was open and that the dresses Jim had promised to send had indeed arrived. The one adressed to Tessa was an emerald green dress that was long sleeved and cut off into a triangle at the beginning of her middle finger. It was cut into a straight line across her chest and fanned out only slightly as it reached the ground. Dynah had a dark sapphire dress that was cut into a sweet heart shape that had short sleeves on the her arms that just covered her shoulders. It flowed down to the ground in waves. John was just wearing a simple black tuxedo, much like Sherlock himself, but with a white mask around his eyes.

"I find it extremely creepy that Moriarty knows our dress sizes." Dynah said, looking at Tessa.

"Moriarty?" John asked.

"You seriosuly think Sherlock has any style sense and would know which outfits would compliment us the best? Honestly John, use your head." Tessa laughed.

"That is quite disturbing..." John said, looking at the dresses.

"The man is a psychopath. What did you expect John? Now we have to get going, the limo is going to arrive soon." Sherlock said.

"Limo?" Tessa, Dynah and John asked.

"You really think he would send us clothes, masks and not a limo? Now hurry up!" Sherlock exclaimed, leaving 221B.

"This is going to be so dull." Jamie said, tying a silver necklace around her neck.

"Oh do stop whining." Jim said, straightening out his tie.

"You're not the one who is being forced to go against her will. Can't you just go. It's not like I have a very big part in the plan anyways."

"Do you really think I'm going to leave you here alone. It doesn't matter how many guards I have, you'll still manage to sneak out and try and go tell Sherlock and your little friends exactly where you are, which will result in your death, along with theirs."

"Do you always end things so violently?"

"I rarely end things peacefully." Jim grinned.

"You know,you kind of look like a demonic pixie. Just stating a observation."

"If you weren't such a valuable chess piece, I would have killed you by now." Jim said.

"Good thing I'm the Queen in this game then."

"Red is a rather complimenting colour on you." Jim said.

"You would know. You picked the dress." Jamie said, putting on red lipstick.

"Indeed." Jim laughed.

"Wouldn't think a psychopath would have an eye for fashion."

"Westwood." Jim stated.

"Touche." Jamie chuckled back.

Sherlock, John, Tessa and Dynah all arrived at Buckingham Palace by 7:00 that evening. They all had their masks on and were escorted inside after they had shown them their invitations. Of course they had to go through security first, and when they turned up clean, they were welcomed into the palace as though they themselves were royalty. The ball room was filled with people, all of extremely high class and Dynah and Tessa couldn't help but laugh at the fact that they didn't have a penny to their name at the moment. Sherlock was more focused on finding Moriarty. He weaved his way through the crowd, trying to find him quickly. However music interrupted him. People partnered up and Sherlock xwas left standing in the middle of the dance floor, surrounded by couples. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to face a man. He was wearing a Phantom of the Opera styled mask, but was black instead of white. His hair was gelled back and he wore a black Westwood suit with a blood red tie. He wore a cape around his shoulders and he was grinning.

"May I have this waltz?" the man asked.

Sherlock smirked and accepted, moving closer to the man and beginning to move with him to the music.

"You should really learn to conceal yourself better, Jim." Sherlock said.

"I could say the same to you, Sherlock. I could tell it was you from a mile away. Perhaps it was those angelic curls or just the way you held yourself so proudly."

"You speak rather fondly of me. Here I thought you wanted to burn the heart out of me."

"Oh I do, Sherlock. But I can still see the beauty in the things I'm going to destroy."

"Why are you here, Jim? What is the end game to all of this? Why lead us all here?"

"Let's just say. I like murder mysteries." Jim smiled.

All of a sudden there was a very loud scream. A woman's, like in those typical murder stories. Everyone went running in the direction of the sound, and Jim and Sherlock slowly separated from their dance. Jim reached down and kissed Sherlock's hand.

"Perhaps we should see what that poor woman is screaming about."

"Indeed."

Sherlock and Jim walked over to where the woman had screamed, pushing there way to the front of the crowd. Lying on the floor was a woman, in a red dress with a silver necklace around her neck. She was short, light brown hair. Her face was covered by a black veil that made it extremely difficult to see her face and under the veil she was wearing a red mask. Sherlock moved closer, being the only person with the guts to go near the dead body. He lifted the veil and pulled off the red mask. He dropped it to the floor, when he looked upon the body. Tessa, Dynah, and John all came forward and all of them froze when they saw the body. There was a thin red line, pouring down with blood on her neck line, and her eyes were wide and opened with fear. Sherlock reached for her wrist and checked her pulse. Nothing. That's when he heard a dark chuckle next to his ear.

"Poor Jamie." Jim whispered, before the room went completely dark.

Chapter 14

As the lights turned off in the ballroom of the palace, panic began to race around the room. Womens' frightened screams echoed off the walls, where mens' shouts rang in Sherlock's ears. Sherlock tried to keep track of Moriarty in the dark, but it was extremely difficult with all of the people trying to run past him. All of these people were acting completely moronic. A killer would not leave a body in the middle of a room, turn off the lights, and just let the rest of the people in there escape. Soon the lights flickered back on and Sherlock could not see Moriarty anywhere in sight. He quickly located John and the girls within the room and walked over to them. They all looked completely distraught and depressed and really, this was a rare moment where Sherlock could sympathize with them. Not even Sherlock himself had seen this coming, perhaps not even Jamie had seen it, and now the girl was dead by the age of 16. She wasn't just a normal person to any of them. She had been an ally to Sherlock, someone he had trusted and put his faith into. Somebody that he had placed into harms way.

"How could this happen?" John asked.

"We have to find him, John. We have to find him and take him down." Sherlock said.

"What's the point, Sherlock. None of us saw this coming. I know you didn't! I can see it in your eyes. He's won! He killed her and there is nothing we can do about it." Dynah yelled.

"Avenge her. It won't bring her back to life, but if we take him down, she wouldn't have died in vain. She wouldn't want us to give up now and if we did, it would be like giving up on her. We have to find him." Sherlock said.

"We have to make him pay." Tessa said, anger lacing her voice like a toxin.

"What am I supposed to say to her parents, Sherlock? What am I supposed to tell them? This isn't a game, Sherlock! It should be clear by this point! She is dead because we all failed to see the true consequences behind what we were doing. We played with fire, Sherlock. We can't win!"

"Do you want him to win, John? To get the better of all of us? Because that is exactly what he is trying to do! We need to focus on catching him, John. Jamie is dead, nothing can change that, but we can make sure that she didn't die for no reason."

"Sherlock, I know that you can't possibly understand this because you are a heartless sociopath, but someone we all care deeply about has died because of some game between us and a psychopath. It's gotten to the point where for once we need to stop thinking about the stupid case and instead focus on the consequences of it!"John yelled.

"Good evening, ladies and gentleman."

A voice said over a loud speaker. Jim's voice. "It is clearly obvious that someone has been murdered here tonight. The lovely Jamie Kent. 16 years old. A rather bright girl, though extremely estranged. However none of you have seemed to notice that he body has disappeared out of this room. Not very observant of all of you. Now here is the game. Let's think of it as a murder mystery,or a game of Cluedo. No one is allowed to take of their masks, but you may tell anyone you like who you are. You must guess the killer in the room, for their is one amongst you. The longer it takes you to guess, the more people die. Oh and don't forget to have fun."

The speaker went off and once more the room was in panic, people trying to find any possible way out of the room. Sherlock began attempting to read people, but in all the panic, it was becoming difficult for him to focus on one person for too long. Even the Queen,the ruler of the country was acting like a complete imbecile, trying to find a way out of the room, even though it was clearly evident that all of the doors had been sealed shut. Sherlock felt a hand on his shoulder and went to immediately defend himself, only for the person to be revealed as Mycroft.

"What is happening here, Sherlock? I know who Jamie Kent was to you and your group of consulting sidekicks. Why is she dead?" Mycroft asked.

"Moriarty." was Sherlock's simple reply.

"I see. I'll make sure that the Queen and the rest of the royals are properly protected until the secret service is able to make it in here. Until then, brother, I expect you to find this killer. I know for a fact that it isn't-"

"Moriarty. No, he wouldn't be foolish enough to kill people himself. Just to organize the deaths himself." Sherlock responded.

Mycroft left quickly, obviously to make sure that the image of the royal family stayed in tact. It would be foolish of him not to, seeing as he actually ran the British Government. Making sure the image of the government stayed the same as always was a main priority for him. Not actually the thought of catching the killer. John, Tessa and Dynah had moved away from where Jamie's body had been, and were now standing next to him.

"It's going to be the last person we expect. Someone who would be the least likely person to be a killer. Only doing it because of blackmail Moriarty has on them. They have no desire to actually kill, which is why they kill with a slice to the throat. Quick and little chance of survival." Tessa spat out.

"It will be a male. Women generally try to be less gory and bloody, due to a natural instinct not to make a mess. Especially if we are correct in saying that this person was forced to kill because they were being blackmailed." Dynah said.

"Sherlock, we need to keep an eye out for a man roughly early 20's and looking slightly shaken and disoriented. The person being killed next will be easy to take down. Jamie was the only one who was an instructed kill. Moriarty doesn't care who else dies, as long as fear and panic get in the way of us finding the killer. He knows that we won't be able to work as fast, that you won't be able to because despite what you are trying to convince yourself of, you are upset that Jamie was killed and you had hoped to prevent it from happening. We have to show him that we can still win, that this won't stop us." Tessa said.

"Thank you, Tessa. Now there are roughly 300 guests at this ball tonight and most people look shaken and disoriented, however his will be more noticeable because he will look less panicked than the rest and more anxious and stressed. He will probably try to keep to himself as much as possible, waiting until Moriarty gives him orders to kill somebody, in which case someone else will die. That is something we must try and prevent." Sherlock said.

They all began to search frantically around the room in search of the murderer but suddenly the lights turned off again. Panic struck the room and many people began to scream and cry, none of them knowing what to do to possibly save their lives. The lights flickered back on and there was another body on the floor. This one was a male however, though he was scrawny, not very much muscle and would have been easily taken down. His throat was slit as well, the blood pouring out onto the floor. Sherlock tried to find his way through the people in order to find the murder seemed to cause normal people to become frightened and to run around like chickens who have recently had their heads decapitated.

"Sherlock!" a voice called out.

Sherlock turned around to come face to face with Jim Moriarty once more.

"Oh!I am having so much fun, Sherlock! Wouldn't you agree? After all, who doesn't love a good murder mystery?"Jim beamed.

"You didn't have to kill her."Sherlock said.

"Oh please, Sherlock. Don't let sentiment get in the way. That would be so dull and human of you to do so. Besides, I had to kill her. She was getting in the way and she wasn't very helpful at all, so I got rid of unnecessary baggage. You understand don't you, Sherlock? After all, what is the point of keeping something useless?" Jim asked.

"There is nothing beneficial about this, Jim. There is nothing in this for you. There was nothing in it for you in killing Jamie, so why do it?"

"You are me, Sherlock. Surely you can figure it out." Jim smiled.

"It was to even out the odds. Sentiment is going to cloud John, Tessa and Dynah's mind, making them unable to think clearly or properly. They will not be able to aid me as much in the game. It's just you and I now, and that's exactly how you want it, isn't it?" Sherlock asked.

"Oh too right, Sherlock. I mean I have my little helpers but they only really help me with the small things, and now your little sidekicks will do the same for you. So now the brilliant minds stand on top and face each other one on one." Jim beamed.

"You needed me alone for this. There is something much bigger around the corner, and I can't wait to see it." Sherlock smirked.

"And I can't wait to show it to you, Sherly dear. Sadly you will have to wait until our next date. Good bye, dear." Jim said, kissing Sherlock lightly on the lips before walking away laughing.

Sherlock pressed his hand against his lips in shock, before moving away from where he had been frozen in place, his eyes showing the fury that his entire body was feeling. That kiss had been something. A promise. But a promise of what? Sherlock couldn't wrap his head around what Moriarty was thinking and that was driving him to the point of destroying his already fragile sanity. Sherlock began speeding around the room, in search of the murderer. He almost didn't catch him, he was so small, and so careful about trying to slip away, however the light was on Sherlock's side today. The murderer was wearing a small knife that was attached to a ring on his thumb and hung over the edge like a nail. It was small and just long and sharp enough to slice somebodies throat. The light around the room had reflected off the small piece of metal and had caught Sherlock's eye. He ran over to the man and quickly pressed a hand to his throat.

"You killed them didn't you?" Sherlock growled.

"I-I'm sorry! He made me! I didn't have a choice!" the man cried out.

"Everybody has a choice. You just made the wrong one and became enemies with the wrong people." Sherlock growled.

Mycroft walked over to Sherlock and Sherlock handed over the man.

"This is your killer, he can give you whatever testimony he wants but the blade on his thumb contains both the blood of Jamie Kent and the last victim. He killed them both with it and he will say it was blackmail from Jim Moriarty. Make sure that he isn't allowed a fair trial." Sherlock said, before kicking open the doors of the palace and walking out back to 221B. As he walked down the cold streets of London, he heard laughter all around him and as he turned a corner Jim was waiting for him once more.

"Have you not seen me enough for one night, Jim?" Sherlock asked.

"I could never get tired of seeing you, Sherlock. But now things are about to get extremely serious."

"Were they not serious before?"

"Not really. The Game is going to take and awful turn right now. I promised you that I would kill 80 people, but I never told you who they would be. You just assumed it would not be anyone you know or care about. I proved you wrong by killing Jamie tonight, didn't I? That struck a nerve in you didn't it? You weren't expecting it. Weren't expecting me to kill her and now that I have, you don't know what I'm going to do next and that's where this game becomes very serious, Sherlock. I am warning you now, that I a time will come where you will choose who lives and who dies, where you will have just as much blood and guilt on your hands as I do." Jim smiled.

"I'm not a psychopath like you, Jim."

"There is a very thin line between a high functioning sociopath and a psychopath. In fact-" Jim said,taking a a few steps extremely close to Sherlock, "You could almost say it's non-existent."

"You always tell me that sentiment is a weakness and yet you kissed me tonight. Why?" Sherlock asked.

"You know why, Sherly. Do not bore me with such dull questions. Besides I really have to be going. I have a few more people to kill don't I, and really Sherlock, I owe you those bodies." Jim smiled, stepping away.

"Catch you later." Sherlock glared.

"I would love to be cliche and say no you won't, Sherlock. But oh yes, honey, you will."

Chapter 15

Sherlock was ready to kill. He stepped back into 221B and slammed the door shut as he walked into the kitchen and pulled out the two arms he had kept in the fridge. He quickly pulled out all of the vast chemicals that he had stored and began to test on the limbs, his frustration evident as he continuously mutilated the arms. He heard the door open and shut and saw John, Tessa, and Dynah file into the room. John didn't say anything, immediately going up to his room, and shutting the door. The girls didn't stay long. They ran upstairs quickly, changing what they were wearing before going out again. Sherlock didn't particularly care, just focused on his work and tried to only focus on his work. He found himself unable to lose his mind in the experiment he felt himself boil over in anger and throw his experiments off of the table. He heard John run down the stairs, clearly upset at the fact that Sherlock had forced him to leave his room.

"What the hell are you doing, Sherlock?" John asked, looking at the mess on the floor."You can't just throw those acids around on the floor and damage the flat!"

"I've been emotionally compromised, John!" Sherlock yelled.

"What are you talking about, Sherlock?" John asked.

"This exactly what he planned from the beginning, isn't it? God,he planned this and I was so blind to it! We all were!" Sherlock yelled.

"Sherlock, are you actually saying that..."John trailed off.

"Yes! I can't focus because Jamie is dead! Does this surprise you, John? Because I do not understand it. I live my entire life surrounded by death, bodies, and crime scenes, never feeling anything and now here I am, mourning over the loss of some girl!" Sherlock yelled, screaming at the ceiling.

"She wasn't just some girl, Sherlock! She was your friend. She could have been family! You may not want to be attached to people,or to become friends with others, but it happens Sherlock, and you became her friend. She was family! Why can't you accept that her death is going to affect you! That it's normal for it to affect you!" John yelled.

"It isn't normal for me to think. I'm not normal like you, John! I don't have feelings and I recognize sentiment as a weakness." Sherlock said, throwing his arms up in the air in anger.

"Would it kill you to be human for once, Sherlock? Do you not understand how Tessa, Dynah and I feel about this? We just lost someone who was family to us, and you're just standing here yelling about how hard it is for you because you think it's wrong! It's not wrong, Sherlock! It's human! But what the hell would you know about that? You're just a bloody emotionless freak!" John yelled before storming out of the flat.

Sherlock felt his frustration still seeping out of him and he didn't know what to do. He decided that he needed something to distract him. Something besides an experiment. He needed his mind to be focused on the case. He needed to go and see Jim again. Jim held all the answers, and as much as Sherlock hated to, he needed to co-operate with Jim in order to get them. Almost as if he had said the words to Jim himself, a text arrived in his phone, from none other than the infamous consulting criminal.

Missing you, Sherlock. We need to talk about how sentiment can lead to death.- J.M xx

Sherlock looked over the message before replying.

When and where?-S.H

Camden.-J.M xx

Sherlock quickly left the flat and took the tube to Camden. The market clearly wasn't being,considering how late at night it was. The only people around now would be drug addicts, to high to even notice their surroundings and some members of Sherlock's homeless network. Perhaps even Jim had some of his men here as well. Sherlock wrapped his coat around him tightly, realizing now how cold it was tonight. He inspected his surroundings, wondering where Jim could possibly be lurking and waiting. He heard footsteps behind him, and he stopped walking, but didn't turn around. He felt a head rest on his shoulder and a hand reach up to play with his hair.

"I love you hair." Jim whispered in his ear.

"Strange thing to say."Sherlock commented.

"No more strange than the amount of emotions you're showing." Jim sang.

"How would you know anything, Jim?" Sherlock said.

"Oh well, I can completely see why you would try to hide it. After all, why would the great Sherlock Holmes want people to know that he actually had feelings!" Jim did a mock gasp and walked around in front of Sherlock.

"You know nothing about me, Jim."

"Yes I do, Sherly. We're one in the same. Two peas in a pod."

"What do you want Jim?" Sherlock asked.

"I just want to give you some good advice. Do not let Jamie's death affect this game. I don't care how it affects Tessa, Dynah, or John. Oh no, I could care less. I just don't want you to lose your edge. Otherwise it will just be so easy to kill you." Jim said.

"It was your plan from the beginning. To throw all of us off. To make sure that it would just be you and I left at the end of this game. But why? You made such a large deal out of making sure all of us took place. Was it so you could knock us all down one by one?" Sherlock asked.

"Oh Sherlock, you sound so bitter." Jim pouted. "And here I was thinking that you would be happy to see me. Did that kiss not do anything for you?" Jim smirked.

"No, it did not." Sherlock smiled.

"Oh a pity. Perhaps I'll have to give you another one." Jim laughed.

"I don't require anything from you." Sherlock said.

"Oh we both know that's not true. You need answers from me and don't even try denying it. You wouldn't be here if you didn't. How does it feel, being lowered to have to grovel at my feet for information?" Jim laughed.

"Does it look like I am groveling at your feet, Jim?" Sherlock asked.

Jim smiled and walked around Sherlock in circles and Sherlock stood completely still. Jim swiftly kicked Sherlock in the back of his knees and laughed as the man fell to the ground, before walking around to the front of Sherlock.

"Now it does, honey."

"I'm going to beat you." Sherlock growled out.

"Still have such faith. I like that. Keep your edge Sherlock, it makes you so much more attractive. Though I have to be honest. I didn't expect you to get so attatched to those girls. I thought you would just use them for what they were useful for, before dumping them on the side of the road. But your reaction to Jamie's death. Oh it was so human of you, Sherlock. So beautiful and touching. I wonder,if you will do the same when I kill Tessa and Dynah." Jim laughed.

"You won't hurt them!"Sherlock yelled.

"That's what you thought about Jamie too."Jim grinned. "Now I really do have to go. Things to plan. Games to win. Good bye, Sherlock." Jim smiled, turning to walk away.

Sherlock quickly stood up and spun Jim around before kissing Jim lightly on the lips and pulling away. Jim was just grinning madly before laughing.

"What was that for, Sherlock? I thought you didn't want a kiss." Jim said.

"It wasn't a kiss, Jim. It was a promise. Good bye, Jim." Sherlock smiled, finally happy that he had even the smallest edge on Jim.

Sherlock was left to go to St. Bart's, notready yet to return to the flat. Though this meeting with Jim was short, Sherlock had what he needed. Jim always revealed a part of his plan when he was with Sherlock, whether he purposely was doing this or not, he did. He walked into the morgue at 's, seeing Molly quickly trying to wipe her eyes, and cover her face.

"Oh Molly, don't bother trying to hide your appearance. It's clear that you have been crying from your obviously red eyes, and flushed appearance. Also there are tear stains on the lab table." Sherlock said, walking over to the microscope.

"I-I just heard about Jamie. God Sherlock. I'm so sorry." Molly said, wiping her eyes.

"Don't be. It wasn't your fault so you have nothing to be sorry for. Of course I understand your display of emotions, seeing as she was your friend, I would prefer that you remain professional while in your workplace." Sherlock said.

"S-Sherlock! How can you say that! She was your friend too!" Molly yelled.

"She was aiding me in the case. That was the extent of our relationship." Sherlock said. "Though her death was uncalled for, I will not allow it to disrupt my work."

"Get out of my lab, Sherlock." Molly said quietly.

"Excuse me?" Sherlock asked.

"GET OUT OF MY LAB, SHERLOCK!" Molly yelled.

Sherlock was about to refuse, but when he saw the look in her eyes, he quickly decided it would be more logical to leave. So that's exactly what he did. He walked out of 's, but still refused to go home. As he walked down the streets of London, a black limo pulled up beside him. The door opened and Sherlock couldn't help but smile, stepping inside the vehicle. It was time.

Chapter 16

"I don't have time for this, Mycroft. If you weren't made aware at the masquerade, I do not feel like discussing the events of tonight with anyone! Especially..." Sherlock trailed off as he looked to the left of him, realizing that it wasn't Mycroft he was talking to. It was Tessa.

"Tessa...what are you doing here? This is Mycroft's limo." Sherlock said.

Tessa didn't respond right away, almost as if she didn't hear Sherlock. In stead she just looked straight at Sherlock, hatred burning within her eyes. She looked away to the right slightly, eyes narrowing slightly, before she began to speak.

"Is this not what you were expecting, Sherly?" She said, almost mechanically.

"Jim. Nice to hear from you again so soon." Sherlock said, knowing immediately what was going on.

Tessa waited a moment before responding. "Charming, Sherlock. Now I need to inform you of somethings don't I? I assume you're wondering why I have kidnapped your little Tessa? Especially after I killed...Jamie." Tessa said between gritted teeth.

"I am wondering as to why you have decided this." Sherlock said.

"In all truth I was bored, Sherlock. Our old game was just growing so tiresome and repetitive. So I decided to change things up. It's like when couples try something new to spice up their sex life." Tessa said, looking anywhere but at Sherlock during that last line.

"I don't particularly consider us a couple, and last I checked a crime and a sex life are two extremely different things." Sherlock stated.

"Depends on what you like." Tessa said, making disgusted faces.

"This is Mycroft's limo." Sherlock stated, trying to change the subject.

"I'm aware. Your brother needs to learn to put his things away. Otherwise people like me will just take them."

"What is it you want from this?" Sherlock asked.

"You'll see when we get there. Oh and don't try to talk to Tessa. She doesn't have the free will to speak."

Sherlock spent the rest of the ride in silence, waiting until they were allowed to leave the car. Tessa seemed calm, keeping her facial expressions very calm and not moving too much. Sherlock noticed that she had a small metal wrist band on her arm. A bomb. That's why she wasn't daring to do anything. Jim could kill her. Just like he killed Jamie. When the car came to a halt, the door on Sherlock's side of the car opened, and a very tall, well built man pulled him and Tessa out of the car and dragged them into what appeared to be a deserted warehouse. Once pushed through the door, the man left them and locked them in, leaving them in a completely pitch black room. Tessa let out a sigh.

"Sherlock, I have permission to talk now."

"Are you alright?" Sherlock asked.

"For a girl who was just kidnapped on the night her best friend was murdered, I'm doing pretty okay." Tessa said, sounding extremely bitter. "Now what do you think we're doing here?" Tessa asked.

"I'm not sure." Sherlock said, looking around.

Suddenly extremely lights flickered on, burning bright and burning both Sherlock and Tessa's eyes. Sherlock shielded his eyes from the light and waited for them to adjust before opening them once more. To say he was surprised when he saw a circus ring would be an understatement. Tessa looked towards him, eyes filled with questions that he himself was unable to answer.

"Oh and welcome to the circus! Where things are not as they appear and where everything that appears is not actually there!" Jim said, walking from the darkness into the center of the ring.

Jim was wearing exactly what you would expect a ring master to wear. A large top hat, that added 12 inches to his height and he wore a long red jacket, with brass buttons, that shone in the bright lights. He held a whip in his hand, and he laughed loudly as he looked over to Sherlock and Tessa.

"And now entering the ring: The glorious consulting detective and his wonderful ginger assistant! A round of applause."

The room was obviously silent.

"Pity. Nobody cares. Except me." Jim smiled.

"Jim." Sherlock greeted.

Tessa charged at the man, knocking him to the ground and wrapping her hands around his throat. The man laughed darkly, but Tessa just pressed her hands down harder, cutting off his airway.

"I'm going to kill you." Tessa said, looking as though she actually might.

"Is that right?" Jim continued laughing.

"Tessa, let him go." Sherlock said.

"He killed her, Sherlock." she said.

"I know. But this isn't the answer. It won't bring her back, and this isn't what she would want. This isn't how she would want it to end. Let him go."

"Or you could just keep strangling me. But remember, that you have a bomb strapped to your wrist that I control." Jim smiled.

Tessa quickly got up off of Jim and walked back over to Sherlock, who stood in front of her, and quickly snapped the bracelet off of Tessa's wrist, finding a way to do so without setting off the bomb. He threw it to the ground far away from them, making sure that it was far enough away from all of them. Jim stood up and pouted as he brushed off his suit.

"You know, I do like this outfit. I would appreciate if you didn't attack me and get it covered in dust." Jim sighed.

"Why are we here, Moriarty?" Tessa asked.

"We are here to play a game! Oh! I feel like Saw!"Jim laughed.

"What kind of game?" Sherlock asked. "As far as I'm concerned, we've been playing far too many lately."

"Oh there's no such thing as too much fun!" Jim laughed. " It's a game of choice. One of you is going to die here tonight. And you two must choose who it is. Which one of you will take the leap." Jim said, telling them to follow him.

They both looked at each other, Tessa beginning to look concerned, but following Jim hesitantly. They walked up the stairs of the warehouse, leading up to a large metal door, that opened straight out over a cliff. Tessa and Sherlock looked at each other. Not sure what to do.

"You have to decide. If you can't I could just push you both. Either way, I'm quaint." Jim laughed. "Oh and if that's not motivation enough, turn your attention to the screen." Jim said, turning on the t.v's hanging form the ceilings. The images showed Lestrade, , John, and Dynah.

"They'll all die, if you fail to make a decision." Jim smiled.

"I'll do it." Sherlock said quickly.

"What?" Tessa asked.

"John would kill me himself if he knew I allowed you to die. Though he'll mourn my death, it won't be the same as if you died. I'm not letting him lose you and Jamie in one night, Tessa. I don't want you arguing me on this. Is that understood?" Sherlock asked.

"Yes. I won't argue with you." Tessa said, taking a deep breath, before leaping off the side.

"No!" Sherlock yelled, but it was too late.

Tessa had jumped. Tessa was dead. Suddenly Jim began laughing and Sherlock moved up to him and wrapped his hands around Jim's throat, just as Tessa had and cut off his air supply.

"Why! Why do you do this? They were out of the game so why!" Sherlock yelled.

"A test of faith, Sherlock." Jim gasped out.

"What are you talking about?"

"Look over the side. Your precious Tessa is fine." Jim laughed.

Sherlock moved over to the edge. Before it had been fogged over, looking dark and unable to fully see the bottom. The fog had cleared now, clearly having been made for this purpose, and Sherlock could see that the fall was not far enough to kill, however he could see that Tessa was injured. Judging by the way her arm was twisted, he could tell that it was broken. Sherlock turned back to look at Jim, who was still laughing.

"I told you, Sherlock. Sentiment can be dangerous. But now onto more important things. Go and get your mini me, Tessa. We have a circus to run!"

Chapter 17

Sherlock quickly ran out of the building, going to where Tessa had landed. He saw her trying to get up, unable to put weight on her left arm seeing as it was broken. He came closer to her and helped her to stand up.

"I need to set the bone." Sherlock said.

"I'll be fine." Tessa said, moving her arm away from Sherlock, holding it in pain.

"I have to set it." Sherlock said, before sighing and ripping off the sleeve to his shirt.

He wrapped it around Tessa's shoulder and made a sling out of it, placing Tessa's arm inside of it. He made sure that the bone was set properly before leading her back inside of the warehouse. When they entered, Sherlock saw Moriarty standing there, smiling at the two of them, waving at them. Tessa immediately went to go and attack him, but Sherlock held her back.

"Oh is little Tessa angry?" Jim teased.

"You are a sadistic bastard!" Tessa yelled.

"Guilty as charged!" Jim sang, before letting out an evil laugh.

"What do you possibly need us for, Jim?" Sherlock asked, growing frustrated with the man.

"I told you, Sherlock! We have a circus to put on!" Jim exclaimed.

Jim immediately snapped his fingers and suddenly the lights flicked off again. Sherlock held onto Tessa, making sure that the girl didn't get dragged away. The room was filled with noises, that Sherlock knew was the sound of metal moving against metal. The lights then flickered back on and Sherlock studied cages that had moved into the small space all of a sudden. Some of the cages were filled with various animals, most of them extremely dangerous. There were lions, tigers, and even some hyena's. Jim had even gone so far as to have a tank filled with piranhas and Sherlock couldn't help but wonder how he had hidden that before.

"Isn't it wonderful Sherlock? Cost me quite a bit of money, but this is going to be so much fun!" Jim beamed, before snapping his fingers once more.

Suddenly a large group of people were walking into the room. All of them had a red laser pointed to the back of their head. These people were aware they were being held at gun point. There were 25 people currently in the group. Most kept their heads down. Sherlock watched as one woman looked up and began to panic. Sherlock wanted to warn her not to move, but it was too late. She quickly tried to run from the group, but made it two steps before getting shot. Tessa immediately looked away, not wanting to see it. Sherlock saw the other people in the group began to panic, some screaming and yelling, but Jim immediately silenced them!

"YOU PEOPLE BORE ME!" Jim yelled. "NOW IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO END UP LIKE YOUR STUPID LITTLE FRIEND, YOU WILL DO AS I SAY! IS THAT CLEAR?"

The group all were silent, until they all mumbled a yes together.

Jim sighed out, with a smile on his face. "Now, we are going to put on a show tonight for Sherlock Holmes and Tessa Daniels! Let's put on a good show tonight! After all, we are all trained professional circus performers!" Jim laughed.

Sherlock walked towards Jim and brought his ear close to Jim's ear.

"

I'm not going to stand here and watch this. I'm going to stop you."

"Oh no you won't, Sherly." Jim grinned.

"You can't point your stupid little guns at me and expect me to not stop you."

"Oh no. It won't be you I'm pointing the gun at." Jim smiled, before gesturing over to Tessa.

Sherlock looked over to Tessa and saw that there were many red dots scattered over her body. She looked up at Sherlock, no fear in her eyes, but rather she looked as if she had something planned.

"Is that all you can do, Jim? Point guns at me? Why not try something different?" Tessa mocked the man.

Jim just smiled and wrapped his arms around Sherlock's waist. Sherlock looked skeptical, not sure what Jim was doing. Tessa looked at him oddly as well. Jim kept a firm hold on Sherlock before walking him over closer to the lions cage. Jim snapped his fingers 24 times in a row, and suddenly the people were all moving forward. Some were led into cages with animals, others to a trapeze that hung over the whole room. No net underneath. Sherlock eyes were wide and he looked over to Jim, who just smiled sweetly at him.

"It's alright, Sherlock. I won't make you watch. I just want you to hear it and see the aftermath. That goes for you too Tessa. I just want you to hear their screams and realize that it was all because of you." Jim grinned.

Sherlock refused to look away, but he saw that Tessa had her eyes shut, a neutral look on her face. She was more human than he was. She didn't need to see this. Sherlock however kept his eyes trained on the scene. That was when Jim sighed.

"Perhaps I shouldn't have said I won't make you watch it. I'm changing it now to, I won't let you watch it." Jim grinned, before sliding his hand over Sherlock's eyes. "Don't even attempt to look."

Sherlock did as he was told and kept his eyes shut. For the next half an hour all he could hear were screams of the people in the room. Why was this taking so long? He couldn't keep listening to this. Finally the screams stopped and he felt Jim's hand slip away from his eyes and he opened them. He analyzed the room. All around him was massacre he couldn't even comprehend. Blood and bodies everywhere. Sherlock looked over to Tessa whose eyes were wide and horrified.

"How does it make you feel you two? You couldn't stop it. The only thing you can do is stand there and wait to bring justice after the people are dead. You don't help anyone. I've killed so many people, Sherlock, and you've been helpless to stop it. You can't win the Game." Jim laughed before pinning Sherlock against the lions cage.

Sherlock tried to move out of the grip, but Jim held him firm against the cage. Sherlock heard the lion roar and he glared at Jim, while Jim simply smirked. Sherlock was about to open his mouth to say something, but as he did, he felt a pain course throughout his back. He screamed loudly from the shock of it all and moved his hand to his back, only to pull it back and see blood. The lion had sliced open his back. Sherlock struggled to move away from the cage, but still Jim held him there, scowling at his actions.

"Let him go!" Tessa yelled at Jim, running over to them.

"I recommend you don't move Tessa. Or I'll have them send you to the piranhas." Jim beamed, eyes locked on Sherlock's.

"What do I have to do to convince you to let me go?" Sherlock asked, the pain in his back distracting him from what he knew to be his reasonable thoughts.

"Reciprocate." Jim breathed out, before pressing his lips to Sherlock's.

It took Sherlock a moment to register what was happening and what Jim had said, but once he understood, he kissed Jim back. He knew what Tessa was going to think, but Sherlock knew there was no kindness or love in this kiss at all, or any kiss they had shared. This was all about power. All about the game. All about who would win. This kiss was a promise from Jim to Sherlock that one of them was going to die. Jim began to kiss him harder and Sherlock did the exact same, and soon they were doing as Tessa and Dynah liked to refer to as "snogging". Sherlock wasn't surprised by any of this, just responding to every action that Jim made. When the need for air became too much, he broke his lips away from Jim's and found himself being pulled from the cage wall. Jim smiled and straightend out Sherlock's clothes.

"Time for you to leave!" Jim sang, before walking away from Sherlock. "Call your Scotland Yard. I'm on my way home. Things to destroy and what not! Have fun explaining this to the police. Bye!" Jim said before walking away.

Sherlock waited until the red dots on Tessa's body vanished before he walked over to her. However she used her good arm to punch him across the face. Sherlock looked at her, slightly stunned.

"What the hell was that? Why were you snogging him? He's our enemy! He killed Jamie!"

"I can't explain it you Tessa. I'm going to phone the Yard, and then we're going to the hospital. I'll have a hell of a time trying to explain this to John." Sherlock sighed before picking up his phone and calling the Yard. This was the night of death.

Chapter 18

When the Yard arrived, Lestrade was furious. He began screaming at Sherlock about Jamie's death and going as far as to accuse him of endangering Tessa's life. Sherlock spent most of the night, explaining to Lestrade what exactly had happened between Tessa, Moriarty, and Sherlock himself, while a paramedic stitched up his back where the lion had slashed at it. Tessa was fine, mostly just shaken up, and she had her arm set and put into a proper cast. When John arrived, that was when Sherlock had to worry. The man looked positively livid. When Lestrade was finished talking to him, Sherlock watched as John walked towards him and before he could even get a word out to John, he was punched right across the jaw. Sherlock went flying back, hitting his head on the bumper of the ambulance.

"John, he just received stitches!" Lestrade yelled as he ran back towards Sherlock, helping him up and letting him sit down on the edge of the ambulance once more. Sherlock felt the back of his head. Nothing was wrong with it, probably just slight bruising.

"What the hell were you thinking, John?" Lestrade yelled.

"What was I thinking? I was thinking that this selfish bastard put Tessa in danger on the same damn night when Jamie died! He doesn't even care! He too concerned with how own god damn case to even care that she died!" John yelled, letting out all of his frustrations on Sherlock.

"It wasn't his fault, John. He did what he had to. In fact, he saved me. He let Moriarty...let the lion cut his back in order to save me." Tessa said.

Sherlock nodded his head at her, silently thanking her for not mentioning the fact that he and Jim had kissed. He knew that Jim wouldn't have understood the way that Tessa did. Tessa simply smiled at Sherlock and nodded her head back at him. Perhaps Jim was right. Tessa and him did have much in common. Though she was mostly silent, unless voicing her opinion during the case or talking to Dynah and Jamie when she was still alive, she understood him every time. Was able to predict what he was going to do, and this was why she understood what they kiss meant now, where as John and Dynah wouldn't have understood.

"Give him a break, John." Dynah said. "Though he may not want to admit it, he feels the same about this as we do."

John looked angrily at Sherlock, before turning away from them, Dynah following after him, while Tessa stayed with Sherlock. Lestrade still had a few questions for them. Though they had gone through the rather complicated things first. It was hard to explain how all the people died, when Sherlock and Tessa hadn't seen it, only heard it. There wasn't much evidence left either, only some or parts of the bodies remaining. Jim had gone full out tonight, making a river of blood run through London. Sherlock watched as Anderson and Donovan approached and he sighed, getting ready to listen to their idiocy and their attempts at accusing him of doing all of this. However Tessa stood up and walked over to them, blocking them from coming closer to Sherlock.

"Oh look if it isn't the miniature freak." Anderson said, crossing his arms of his chest.

"Did you help the freak over there kill all these people?" Donovan asked, smirking.

"Listen. I've had a long tiring day. My best friend died today. I was then kidnapped by a psychopath who forced me to choose between my life or Sherlock's. I jumped off a building thinking that I was going to die when I hit the ground instead of breaking my arm. I then had to stand in a room and listen to 25 people die. So please, go away. Leave Sherlock alone, because really your lives a worth a lot less than mine. So go back to your little cubicles at the Yard and stay away from all the residents from 221B Baker Street!" Tessa said, holding back the anger that was rising inside of her.

Sherlock watched as Anderson moved to take a step forward and she blocked his path right away, not allowing him to move past her. Even as Donovan tried to move past her, Tessa held onto the woman's wrist and gave her a look that Sherlock assumed was frightening as Donovan and Anderson backed away from her and turned around to walk away from her. Tessa soon turned back and walked over to Sherlock again, sitting beside him on the rim of ambulance.

"I really hate those two." Tessa mumbled.

Sherlock couldn't help but to laugh and soon enough, Tessa was laughing as well. Lestrade and some other members of the Yard looked at them strangely but they chose to ignore it, and just enjoy the simply moment of happiness they had. When their laughter died down, Tessa turned to look at Sherlock.

"You really do care that Jamie died, don't you?" Tessa asked him.

"I do. But you have to understand that I'm not used to feeling empathy, or sadness. My life is surrounded by death." Sherlock admitted.

"No one close to you has died, Sherlock. Or nobody who you related with. You're telling me you wouldn't be upset if John died?" Tessa asked.

"I know I would be." Sherlock stated.

"So then this is no different." Tessa smiled.

"For a 16 year old girl, you surely are far too smart for your age." Sherlock smirked.

"So I've been told."

"Perhaps Jim was right, maybe we are alike." Sherlock said.

"We are, but let's not admit Jim was right, especially after tonight."

"You're taking everything rather well." Sherlock stated, looking at the girl strangely.

"I'm putting the case before my mourning." Tessa admitted.

"Why?"

"Because I know this is what Jamie would want. What everyone would die would want. For Jim to be caught." Tessa said, looking away from Sherlock.

Tessa and Sherlock sat there for awhile, Sherlock attempting to pull out a cigarette before Tessa snatched it out of his mouth and tossed it to the ground. Eventually the both of them ended up walking home to 221B. They didn't take a cab, didn't talk during the walk, but instead used the time to clear their heads before they came back to their lives in 221B. Sherlock was the first to walk in, seeing John sitting on his laptop typing, while Dynah was sitting by the window, simply reading from a book. Tessa looked at Sherlock and mouthed the word 'apologize' before moving to go up into her bedroom.

"John." Sherlock said.

"What do you want, Sherlock?" John asked, rubbing his temples.

"I wanted to apologize. I do care." Sherlock said, before walking away.

"Thank you, Sherlock." John smiled slightly before going back to his blog.

Everyone ignored Dynah who they all thought was reading simply. However she was staring at the message she had found in her book, eyes wide, not sure what to do. There was black in sprawled across all the original print of her book, the words scratchy and sloppy.

"I'm so bored and I plan to make things a living hell for you all. You're next Dynah. I've gotten to Jamie. I've gotten to Tessa. You're the last one. I'm sure we'll have lots of fun. Oh and don't tell Sherlock, John, or Tessa about this. We would want to put a nasty hole in the middle of their eyes now would we? I'll see you soon. JM xx"

Chapter 19

Sherlock awoke the next morning, feeling completely drained. The memories of the night before were running through his head. He sighed and slowly got out of bed, looking over at his clock. 5:43 am. He had slept in 13 minutes past the time his body naturally woke him up. Odd. Sherlock pushed himself out of bed, and moved to go into the sitting room, where he saw Dynah in the same position as she had been the night before.

"Dynah? What are you still doing there?" Sherlock asked, curiously.

"Oh!" Dynah exclaimed, flustered by Sherlock's sudden appearance. "I was just reading. Guess time got away from me."

"You're on the same page as you were last night." Sherlock pointed out.

"I guess I'm just tired..." Dynah said, shutting her book, before walking past Sherlock to move up to where she was staying.

Sherlock's eyes followed after her curiously. She wasn't acting like herself, though he supposed that he couldn't expect her to after the events of the previous night. Sherlock moved to where he had left his violin and began to compose. Though it was quite early in the morning, Sherlock felt that it was what he needed to do. He played his violin and was surprised when not one of his flatmates came downstairs to yell at him. He played for the next 5 hours and he watched as one by one, his flatmates came into the room and walked through to get into the kitchen, completely ignoring Sherlock and his music. They didn't talk to one another and just moved around the kitchen, making small meals and Sherlock noticed that John ate nothing, while Tessa and Dynah both ate a very small amount of cereal. Sherlock eyed the two teenagers curiously. Those who were in distress generally did not eat on their own accord, much like John was doing at the moment, and though the teenagers were obviously upset about their friend, they were not showing the clear signs of distress. Sherlock decided to keep that information locked away for himself to access later. He put his violin down and pulled out his phone.

Mycroft, I have a feeling that Moriarty is going to go after Dynah next. Watch her every movement when she leaves the flat. I want to know where she is going and if anything suspicious happens. I'm not going to have a repeat of what happened with Jamie and Tessa to happen with her. SH

Sherlock placed his hand phone down and began to play his violin again. As he played, he could see the irritation beginning to form on John's face, while the girls' faces remained neutral. He began to play faster now, watching their reactions until finally John's hands slammed down on the kitchen table and stand up.

"Can you please just shut up for a bloody moment, Sherlock!" John yelled, his frustration, sadness, and anger visible on his face.

Tessa and Dynah jumped as John's fist hit the table and looked up at him nervously. Even Sherlock remained silent as he studied John's reaction. John looked around the room and noticed everyone's reactions, before moving to walk out of the flat, slamming the door behind him. Sherlock sighed, as did the girls, before Sherlock went back to playing his violin. Sherlock saw Dynah sigh, before running out of the flat as well, probably to go after John. Sherlock heard his phone go off and he reached down to pick it up, seeing that it was Mycroft.

Dynah just went off with John. Should I intervene? MH

No. John and her can't cause any harm and I highly doubt that John will let anything happen to her. SH

Very well. MH

Sherlock placed his phone down once more and there was a sickening silence in 221B. Tessa said nothing to him, but simply walked around the flat, no purpose in her stride than to simply wander aimlessly. Sherlock watched her curiously, wondering what on Earth she was doing. He called her name several times, but she seemed lost in her own thoughts. Eventually Sherlock placed down his violin, moving over to Tessa, but she quickly walked over to where Sherlock's violin was and began to play it, letting her eyes fall shut. She took no pauses, didn't even think as she just played what came to her mind, never once stopping her strokes over the strings of the violin. Sherlock watched her, until he heard his phone go off once more that day. He walked over to it, and as soon as it was in his hands, there was a bright flash of white outside of the flat and it began to rain. Sherlock froze when he saw the message that appeared on this phone.

Sherlock...I need you to come down to Regent's Park. It's Moriarty. He wants you to see me...Christ Sherlock just get down here with Tessa. D. Parker

There was a crack of thunder that filled the whole room, and Tessa stopped playing, resting the violin on the ground. Sherlock turned to stare at her, and she could see in his eyes that something was wrong. She ran to go and get her coat, and he moved to go and get his, wrapping his scarf around his neck as well before heading out the door. They ran down the streets quickly, not bothering to get a cab this time, feeling as though it would take too long in this weather.

"What the hell did that message say?" Tessa asked.

"It was Dynah. Jim has her." Sherlock stated.

"Are you on a first name basis with that psychopath now, Sherlock?" Tessa asked, voice angry and laced with venom.

"Apparently so." Sherlock replied.

Once they made it to Regent's Park Sherlock and Tessa began to look around aimlessly for Dynah and Jim. Suddenly there was a loud gun shot ringing in the air. Tessa and Sherlock looked at each other, before running in the direction the gun shot had been heard. As they approached, Sherlock had to stick his arm out to stop Tessa from running right into Dynah and Jim. Sherlock's eyes narrowed as he studied the scene and Tessa began to panic. In front of them were Jim and Dynah, Dynah being held against Jim's chest with a knife against her throat, her head tilted upwards to avoid the blade, while in her hands she held a gun that was pointed at John, who was standing completely still in front of them.

"Hello Sherly dear! Tessa. So happy that you could join us." Jim smiled.

"What the hell are you doing?" Tessa yelled.

"Oh do be quiet, I have some important things to make Dynah do." Jim smiled. "Now Dynah, when Sherlock and Johnny-boy here first met, Johnny had a psychosomatic wound. Horrible limp in his leg. Of course that was remedied by little Sherlock giving Johnny a case and a rush of adrenaline, but it was so incredibly dull for me. So Dynah I need you to shoot John. Right in his leg, so that he will be unable to walk properly ever again." Jim smirked.

Sherlock moved forward to go and stop Jim, however Jim just pressed the knife slightly harder against Dynah's throat, causing a thin trickle of blood to run down her neck. Jim just laughed and used his free hand to raise Dynah's arms to point the gun at John's leg. John didn't look frightened, unlike Dynah who looked absolutely terrified"

"It's fine, Dynah. Just do it." John ordered.

"But John..." Dynah trailed off.

"DO IT!" he yelled.

The sound of the bullet going off was what gave Sherlock the ability to get Dynah away from Jim. He heard John's shout, but saw that the shot from the gun had made Dynah move back a little, knocking Jim slightly off balance. Sherlock moved quickly and pulled Dynah away from Jim, before rushing over to John who had collapsed on the floor. Dynah quickly let the gun drop from her hands and examined the wound. It was alright, and had luckily just grazed the skin. He would be fine, except for a new scar. A laugh echoed through that air, as the rain continued to poor down on top of them. Sherlock whipped around and saw Jim laughing like the maniac he was.

"Well wasn't that fun kiddies? I would love to do that again, but I think I've traumatized you all enough for the past couple of days. I'll be off now, but don't worry! We'll see each other soon enough." Jim grinned, before walking away.

Dynah moved to run after him, but John grabbed onto her, shaking his head and telling her that it wasn't worth it. Tessa phoned the Yard, letting them know what had occurred and also informed Mycroft. Sherlock however stood there in the rain, looking at Jim as he walked away. The man had promised to burn the heart out of him, and Sherlock knew that he slowly was. Sherlock couldn't help but to think that if this was all part of the game, what was Jim going to do to ensured that he'd lose.

Chapter 20

Jim Moriarty had kept quiet since the incident in Regent's Park. Sherlock, Tessa, and Dynah had taken John to the hospital. Luckily the bullet had only grazed John's leg. Though it would leave a scar, it was better than John not being able to walk properly ever again. John was released from the hospital later that day, though he did have to use a cane for the time being, in order to not put pressure on his wound. John didn't seem to mind, however Dynah felt extremely guilty for the events that had occurred, even though John and Tessa both assured her that it was not her fault, seeing as Jim had a knife pressed against her throat and forced her to do it. Sherlock was growing rather agitated. John and him had solved the case of the missing Turner painting of The Reichenbach Falls, which was earning him much unwanted attention from others, including the media. He had already been drawing much attention from them, but this had simply pushed it to the extreme. They even went so far as to corner Tessa and Dynah at their school and John at his work. Sherlock was extremely frustrated with it, and worse of all, Moriarty had been quiet.

John, Tessa, and Dynah considered this a blessing, seeing as they were able to hold a memorial for for Jamie in their spare time. It had been a rather small ceremony. Mrs. Hudson, John. Tessa, Dynah, Molly, Mycroft and Lestrade. It had been quiet, almost eerily quiet. It made Sherlock feel on edge and he couldn't help to look around to make sure that none of them were being watched by Moriarty's men.

Right now Sherlock, John, Tessa, and Dynah were sitting inside of 221B. All of them were silent, not saying one word to each other. John was typing on his computer, mind slipping in and out of focus, while Tessa was reading over her chemistry book. Dynah had her headphones in, listening to music and tuning everyone out. There were reporters waiting outside of the flat, that were making Sherlock lose his mind. He wished that all of them would just disappear. Sherlock heard footsteps coming up towards their flat. His ears perked up and he walked over to the door, seeing a girl, 18 years of age, smiling up at him. Sherlock eyed her skeptically.

"How did you get in here? Let alone make it past the reporters." Sherlock asked, blocking the girl from getting into the apartment.

"I'm here because I have a case for you, and just because I'm small, doesn't mean I don't know how to fight my way through a crowd and pick a lock." she smirked.

Sherlock looked over the girl. He had gotten her age right. Despite her small size, it was obvious that she was 18. She had long, nearly black hair that was cut into a full fringe. She wore a simple navy blue sweater, with a white shirt underneath it and a pair of dark jeans. Nothing about her screamed extraordinary, but Sherlock believed that to be the look she was attempting for. He was able to tell instantly that she did not have a case for them and that she was in fact a reporter. Sherlock blocked the entrance to their flat when the woman tried to step inside. She smiled up at him, not looking offended in the slightest.

"Do you not care for my case, Sherlock Holmes?"

"I would. If there was 're a reporter, nothing more. Leave. Now." Sherlock demanded.

"You truly are clever, Sherlock. I'm assuming you were able to tell that I was a reporter because of how my hair fell on my shoulder." the girl laughed. "The name is Sylvia Peters. Remember the name, because I can either ruin you or save you in the future." Sylvia smirked.

"I highly doubt that you of all people is going to be my saviour or downfall. Now remove yourself from this building." Sherlock said, glaring at the woman.

Sylvia nodded her head and she quickly turned on her heel and made her way down the stairs and out of his flat. When Sherlock turned back around, Tessa, Dynah, and John were all looking at him questioningly, wondering who was at the door.

"Reporter. Pretended to have a case. Don't worry about it." Sherlock said.

They all nodded and Sherlock went back to his seat, continuing to simply think. As the hours passed by, Sherlock noticed that the sound from outside was gone. He got up and looked out the window, only to see that there was no reporters. None. Sherlock would have been thankful if the situation didn't strike him as being odd. He was about to turn and tell John to text Lestrade to see if he had gotten rid of them, however his answer arrived sooner than he could speak. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and he pulled it out, opening it to read the text.

'Reporters can be so bothersome, can't they? Good thing you have me to clean up the mess. Oh look, the sands of the hour glass are running thin. Oh the clock is ticking. Carpe Diem, Sherlock. Carpe Diem. JM xx'

Sherlock read over the text at least 15 times, absorbing all of the information and analyzing it, seeing if there was any clue that could possibly lead him to where Jim might be, but there was nothing. No clue for them to find all of these people. Sherlock couldn't lose the game though. He couldn't lose the game. He needed to win. Sherlock grabbed his coat quickly, meanwhile Tessa, Dynah, and John all looked up at him curiously.

"Moriarty. He left no clue to his whereabouts. He just said that the sand in the hourglass was running out. We need to find him. Now. He took the reporters." Sherlock stated.

They all got up from where they were sitting and rushed over to get their own outdoor wear and rushed out of the flat. Sherlock refused to take a taxi, because he knew that Jim could be anywhere and Sherlock knew that Jim had already killed 77 out of the 80 people he had promised to kill. So why take all of those people? Why? However that was not his main focus right now. He needed to find Moriarty as fast as possible. They searched through London, with Sherlock running through several people's homes, not caring for their privacy. But they found nothing. Sherlock looked over the message several times over, trying to see if there was something, anything that could possibly lead them to where Jim was hiding. There was nothing. Still nothing. Sherlock ran his hands through his hair in frustration, and Tessa and Dynah were acting the same way. The idea that they could possibly not find the man was nerve wracking enough, but Sherlock found it amazing that he could not find him. Jim was clever, but Sherlock had never deemed him to be this smart. The words that kept running through Sherlock's mind were: Clean up the mess. For some reason they struck Sherlock more than anything else and he knew that must have to do with something, but what? What could it mean? He felt his phone vibrate again and he sighed, pulling it out.

'Can you really not figure out where I am? That is so DULL! If I must give you a hint, Sherly dear, then I will. It was right under your nose when you were in 221 B. Don't you remember the shoes? JM xx'

Sherlock's eyes widened as he read over the text and he turned around, running back to the flat, not even bothering to inform Tessa, Dynah, or John about this. He just ran. Eventually they realized that he had left and began to chase after him. Once he got into the building, he ran down to 221 C. Why would Jim come back here? Why? The Latin. The Latin was the clue. Jim had said Carpe Diem, which translated into Seize the Day. Earlier, Jim had used the phrase Carpe Noctem and had left it as a clue in 221 C. Sherlock wanted to scream at himself for not seeing it. When he opened the door, his eyes widened at what he saw. It couldn't be. No. No it couldn't be. Sherlock saw an hourglass sitting in the middle of the room. Sand was slowly running through it, filling up the bottom that was filled with people. The reporters. They were already half immersed in sand, banging against the glass while some of them were crying. The Nutcracker Suite was filling the room and Sherlock couldn't help but to . Tessa, and Dynah all ran into the room after him and they all simultaneously gasped.

"Sherlock, we have to get these people out of there!" John exclaimed.

Sherlock nodded his head and he moved forward examining the hourglass. There was a door on it, however it was held shut by a very powerful lock. It was an 10 digit or word combination. It was too easy, and that concerned Sherlock greatly. He tapped in Tchaikovsky into the key pad and instantly the lock released, sand pouring out of it along with people gasping for air. Sherlock noticed that there had been in fact more people within the hourglass, but they had been trampled down by the others trying to get out. All of them had lived. Surprisingly. Why would Jim formulate a plan where everyone would live? Something was wrong. Very wrong. John, Tessa, and Dynah all ran over to make sure that the people were all okay. Sylvia had been trapped inside there as well and when John walked over to her, she hugged him tightly, crying into his shoulder. When she pulled away she smiled up at him.

"Thank you for coming. Thank you so much."

As John was about to respond to her a gun shot rang out throughout the room. Sylvia fell to the ground, a bullet hole right in the middle of her head. Sherlock turned around to look at the door to the flat and a man stood there, holding a gun. Dynah lunged at him first, knocking him back. She saw something inside of his mouth and her eyes widened, struggling to get it out of his mouth.

"He has a cyanide capsule!" She stated.

Once more she tried to get it away from him, but he had already bitten down on it. His mouth began to foam and within mere moments he was dead. She pulled away from him and back over to where everyone else was standing, a frown upon her face. Suddenly, all of their phones vibrated and they all got the same message from Lestrade.

'Moriarty attempted to break into Pentaville Prison, The Bank of England, and The Tower of London. All at the same time. Sherlock, Tessa, and Dynah are required to testify as witnesses. GL'

The day of the trial, everyone but Sherlock was on edge. Sherlock put on his purple dress shirt and got ready for the trial, where as Tessa and Dynah put on what they thought would be acceptable to wear to a trial, which consisted of a black skirt and white blouse. Simple and plain. Sherlock was annoyed after his encounter with Kitty Riley. The women dared to try and threaten him and his the trial, they all testified, Moriarty looking completely pleased with himself the entire time. This made Tessa and Dynah skeptical, but Sherlock simply accepted it, knowing that the man was up to something. Of course, in the end, Jim was declared not guilty, but none of them were surprised. Tessa, Dynah, and John had all stayed to wait to hear the verdict, but Sherlock had gone home.

When he had heard the news, he stood up and put the kettle on, setting out his china tea set. Once the kettle had boiled, he made the tea, set it on the table and began to play Bach on his violin. He heard Jim's footsteps as he walked up the stairs. When he had arrived, they talked. It would have seemed almost civil to anyone other than himself and Jim. Everything the man said, did, Sherlock recorded in his mind. The man was smirking at him the entire time. Before he left, he placed an apple on the table with the letter I.O.U carved into them and he turned back, smile still ever present on his face.

"Carpe Diem, Sherlock. Remember that will you, honey?" Jim laughed, before walking out of the door.

Days passed and everything was destroyed. Everything Sherlock had come to know was falling apart around him. He couldn't understand it. Couldn't comprehend how the people who had always put their faith in him, could turn on him so quickly. He had solved a kidnapping, a simple case. That Jim had organized to make it look as if he had done it the entire time. Lestrade and the entire yard had turned against him and had attempted to arrest him. Of course he had gotten away, but that was because he had known this was going to happen. That much was evident after the cab ride he had played part of with Moriarty. But now this was the end. Sherlock had seen Molly earlier that day and he knew what was going to happen now. He walked up to the roof of St. Bart's and when he saw Jim, he couldn't help but to smile softly. Finding out everything the man had planned,. How they key hadn't been real, how this had all been played out so well. Even how Jim had planned his undignified death by threatening the lives of John, Tessa, Dynah, Mrs. Hudson, and Lestrade. All had a gun pointed at them, and if he did not jump, they all died. However, Sherlock couldn't help but to bring up the question that had been plaguing his mind.

"You've killed 79 people, Jim. I know that I am the 80th, but if so, what is the point? Of this entire game, if in the end you are just going to kill me? Won't you be bored?"

"Perhaps, Sherlock. But you're wro-ong!" Jim sang. "I have only killed 78 people!" Jim laughed darkly.

"78? No you've killed 79." Sherlock stated.

"Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! JAMIE!" Jim screamed.

Sherlock's eyes widened a great deal and as he heard the footsteps from behind him he couldn't help but to turn around. There before him stood Jamie Kent, the 16 year old girl who had been proclaimed dead. She had a neutral expression upon her face and she looked between both Sherlock and Jim, not saying a word.

"Jamie?" Sherlock gasped, shocked.

"Hello, Sherlock. Surprised?" she asked.

"Exceedingly so."

"Enough! This is dull. Yes, Jamie is alive and you were to dumb to see it, blah blah blah. Well let's get on with the show, Sherlock. There are lives at stake." Jim smirked.

"You've forgotten on crucial part of this plan, Jim. If you're still alive, you can call of the snipers. There is a name, a word, or a code. They won't die as long as I have you." Sherlock smirked.

"You really think you can make me do something I don't want to do?" Jim laughed.

"I really think I could, Jim. I know that Jamie knows that as well. Everyone knows that." Sherlock smirked.

They exchanged words, bantering back and forth over whether or not Jim would do it. Call off the snipers and admit that Sherlock had truly won the game. Jamie just stood there, watching the entire scene unfold in front of her eyes. The two men, who were so much alike and yet so different.

"I see. You're not ordinary. No. You're me. You're me." Jim laughed. "Thank you. Sherlock Holmes. Thank you. Bless you. As long as I'm alive, you can save your friends. You've got a way out...Well good luck with that." Jim smirked, a sadness laced his tone.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sherlock watched as Jamie pulled a gun out of her coat pocket and pointed it at Jim's head, shooting him right through the skull with a single shot. Sherlock's eyes widened and he stepped back as the boy fell to the ground, a smile still gracing his face even as blood poured from his head. Sherlock turned to look at Jamie, who had a large smile on her face and the gun was now pointed at Sherlock.

"I apologize, Sherlock. Really I do. But this is what needs to be done. Jim's orders must be followed out even after his death. It was arranged you know? Not really a spur of the moment thing or an attempt to save you. I also know how to call them off. The snipers I mean. I could easily. But I won't. Because that would be dull and you know how much I hate things being dull. Now listen to what Jim said, Sherlock. Jump off the building. Let everyone see what a fraud you are!" Jamie laughed.

"If you're alive, then they can live."

"No they can't. They want a body. I promised them one. Even if I told them the word, they wouldn't listen to me. After all I am only a kid. People never suspect kids. Now make your final peace. I have things to do." Jamie smirked. "Legacy to run and all."

Sherlock watched her, the gun still pointed towards him. She was right. They wouldn't listen to her. Sherlock hadn't even listened to her when she had first walked into his life over a year ago. Sherlock walked over to the edge of the building, pulling out his phone, calling John.

"Sherlock, are you okay?" John asked, concerned as he answered his phone.

"Turn around and walk back the way you came." Sherlock said, voice sad.

"No, I'm coming in."

"Just. Do as I ask. Please."

"Where?"

"Stop there."

"Sherlock."

"Okay, look up. I'm on the rooftop."

"Oh god."

"I- I- I can't come down so we'll just have to do it like this.

"What's going on?"

"An apology. It's all true."

"What?"

"Everything they said about me. I invented Moriarty."

"Why are you saying this?"

"I'm a fake."

"Sherlock-"

"The newspapers were right all along. I want you to tell Lestrade, I want you to tell Mrs. Hudson and Molly. In fact, tell anyone who will listen to you. That I created Moriarty for my own purposes."

"Okay, shut up, Sherlock. Shut up. The first time we met-the first time we met-you knew all about my sister, right?"

"Nobody could be that clever."

"You could."

"I researched you. Before we met I discovered everything that I could to impress you. It's a trick. Its just a magic trick."

"No. Alright, stop it now."

"No, stay exactly where you are. Don't move."

"Alright."

"Keep your eyes fixed on me. Please, will you do this for me?"

"Do what?"

"This phone call, it's... it's my note. That's what people do, don't they? Leave a note."

"Leave a note when?"

"Goodbye, John."

"No. Don't-" John started.

Sherlock hung up the phone, taking a deep breath. He turned back, looking at Jamie who was smirking at him and nodding her head. Sherlock took the final step and fell off the edge of the building to his death.

Chapter 21

3 Hours Earlier

Sherlock knew what Moriarty had planned. Sherlock was aware that he was meant to die, and he wasn't going to deny the fact that he was frightened. Death was something he thought would happen when he was old, or when he was so bored that he ended his life himself. Not like this. Though Sherlock had to admit that Jim Moriarty was smart, Sherlock had always considered himself to be more intelligent than him, and now Jim was winning. Sherlock made his way into the morgue at 's. He needed Molly's help. She would be the only one that Moriarty would not suspect. The only one that he had left out. Sherlock watched as Molly looked up at him with wide eyes.

"S-Sherlock? What are you doing here?" Molly asked, nervously.

Sherlock's eyes narrowed at her and he observed her behaviour. Feet pointed towards the door, indicating that she wanted to leave. Voice shaking and hands twirling together.

"What is it that you don't want me to see?" Sherlock asked.

"What do you mean, Sherlock?" Molly asked, trying to lie to Sherlock, even though she knew it to be pointless.

"You know exactly what I mean, Molly. All of what you are doing right now, indicate that you are lying to me. What are you hiding from me, Molly Hooper?" Sherlock asked.

"Nothing." She responded.

Sherlock sighed and looked around the room. Molly isn't a fool. Whatever she was hiding was not within the room, however it was not far from it. Most likely it was hidden amongst the bodies. Sherlock smiled at the woman, more like a smirk as he walked into the morgue. She tried to protest, but Sherlock didn't listen to her. He began looking through several body bags, analyzing several bodies, but finding nothing of interest. He moved to the last bag in the room and he opened it widely. He jumped back from what he saw, eyes wide, before relaxing and smirking.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Jamie Kent." Sherlock said.

Jamie sat up, rising out of the body bag and stretching her body, individual parts of her spine cracking as she did so. Her eyes were squeezed shut as she did so, and when she opened them, she smiled widely at Sherlock.

"Thank you for the kind welcome, Sherlock." Jamie said, hoping out of the bag and letting her feet land softly on the floor.

Molly rushed into the room quickly and she froze when she saw the two of them. Sherlock watched as she quickly tried to explain herself and she stumbled over her words. Sherlock simply held up his hand to hush her, and she did so instantly.

"How long, Molly?" Sherlock asked.

"I-I..." Molly stuttered, brushing non-existent wrinkles out of her lab coat.

"Oh never mind. I'm assuming you've known for awhile. though your reaction to my ignorance of her death upset you. So after that. I'm assuming you've known for a few days now. Moriarty has been too busy planning my death that he has become lazy when making sure that Jamie didn't go out and reveal herself to the wrong people." Sherlock stated.

"You are correct in your deductions once more, Sherlock. But right now we have more important things to plan for." Jamie said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Such as?" Sherlock asked.

"How to avoid Jim Moriarty's plan to burn the heart out of you." Jamie smiled. "He's already alienated you from the rest of society, making you a suspect in the kidnapping of two children. An enemy in the King's court. He'll give you an ultimatum Sherlock. Either Uncle John, Mrs. Hudson, and Lestrade die, or you do. It is as simple as that. However there is a twist, a way in which we can fake your death. You're smart enough to know how you must jump in order to survive. A way that will lessen the impact of the fall."

"The fall?" Sherlock asked.

"He promised you a fall, Sherlock. He intends to give you one. It will happen here, on the roof on 's. Molly can help you with this. How to fake your death. I do not wish to know how you will do it. Jim will be able to read it off of me. I know he will. He plans to use me in this plan as well, Sherlock. In a way I cannot say, but you wouldn't even imagine." Jamie whispered.

"What do you propose we do, Molly?" Jamie and Sherlock said, turning to face the woman.

"We're going to need a rubber ball. You place it under your armpit and it will stop your pulse, so that when they check the body for any signs of life, none will show. Sherlock...it's going to hurt. Your bones will be broken and you're going to need extreme medical attention. Lastly, from what Jamie has told me about Jim, you won't be able to return from the dead. Not until you have hunted down all of Moriaty's men. You cannot tell John, Mrs. Hudson, Mycroft, Tessa, or Dynah. None of them can know but us. After the fall, Sherlock. You will be on your own. Both you and Jamie must stay hidden from those you know." Molly said, voice quiet.

"I understand." Sherlock said, but he truly did not. This wasn't what he wanted to leave behind. A false image of himself as a fraud. However, it was what he knew needed to be done.

"I hope your ready for your fall, Sherlock Holmes." Jamie said, laughing sadly.

This was the end of the man everyone once knew as The Great Sherlock Holmes, World's Only Consulting Detective.

Chapter 22

It had been three years after the fall. Three years hunting, tracking, and finally capturing all of Moriarty's remaining men. He received no help from Jamie. She had other business to attend to. Mostly running Moriarty's organization. Sherlock was aware of this and he knew that she would never do anything to cause total harm. Apparently, Jim had left her in charge of his organization after his death. That was his mistake. Jamie had been purposely leading Moriarty's criminals into the grasp of one Sherlock Holmes. She hadn't done this originally, deeming that it would be unfair to just give these men to Sherlock, but when she changed her mind, Sherlock instantly knew the reason why. She wanted to go back to her home at 221B Baker Street just as much as Sherlock did. So, when every single web of the Moriarty's organization had been severed, Sherlock and Jamie found each other, greeting one another as old friends would, with a silent nod of the head, before they both made their way inside.

The flat had never changed since they had both abandoned it so long ago. It was almost as if the place had been stuck in time. Jamie was the first to move, making her way up the stairs slowly, the creak on the third step sounding exactly how they both remembered it. Sherlock noticed how different Jamie looked, but what had he expected after three years? She was 19 years old now, she definitely would have changed. She no longer looked liked the teenager Sherlock had seen three years ago. Now she looked like a young woman. Her hair was longer and she no longer wore it in the pigtails that Sherlock had become accustomed to. Instead now, she wore it down and it was styled into tight curls, and her bangs were pushed out of her face, resting just above her eyes. Even her style of dress changed. Much more sophisticated. Almost as if she had taken on the female version of the style of Jim Moriarty. High heels, black dress that fit her figure.

"I understand that I've grown up Sherlock. No need to psychoanalyze my appearance." Jamie laughed as she ascended the stairs.

"Your style mirrors Jim Moriarty's." Sherlock stated.

"I'm mourning." she responded.

"Mourning Moriarty?"

"He was a worthy adversary, Sherlock. You know that."

"I don't mourn him though."

"Don't lie to yourself, Sherlock. What would you call all those compositions you have written?" Jamie smirked, walking up the final steps before she was standing outside the door to their old flat.

Sherlock took the last remaining steps up the stairs as well and now the only barrier remaining between himself and his old life was a door. A simple door, yet Sherlock found himself pausing. He wasn't sure why. He knew that he wanted to go home, wanted to return to his old life and yet here he was, pausing. Jamie noticed this, but even she wouldn't make thee final action to open the door. They both turned to look at each other and their eyes locked for a moment. Jamie leaned forward and opened the door. Sherlock turned his head to look into the flat. John was sitting in his chair, looking worn out and tired. Sherlock watched as John stood up, grabbing his cane and limping as he turned to face the door. Sherlock's eyes widened when they landed upon the cane. So John's limp had returned. It was as Sherlock had suspected, but he had hoped that he was wrong. His eyes travelled back up to John's eyes, which were blown wide in shock.

"Hello, John." Sherlock said, simply.

"Hello, Uncle John." Jamie greeted, a sad smile on her face.

"No. NO! I'm hallucinating! Dear God this isn't happening!" John shouted, bringing his hands to the side of his head and turning away from them.

"Uncle John...Please just list-" Jamie started.

"No! This is impossible! You both died! I watched the both of you die!" he shouted.

There was the sound of people running down the stairs from the floor above and Sherlock knew that it was Tessa and Dynah.

"John? What on earth are you shouti-" Dynah started, before pausing when she saw Jamie and Sherlock before her. Tessa ran down after her, but instead of the shocked expression, she had a satisfied smile on her face.

"Welcome back, Sherlock, Jamie." she said.

"You two really know how to stay dead." Dynah laughed, running a hand through her hair.

Sherlock eyed the two of them skeptically, wondering how the two girls had become aware of the fact that his death was fake. However, that was not the most important thing at the moment. It was important for him to focus on John, who at the current moment looked shocked and completely furious.

"You knew?" he asked, addressing Tessa and Dynah. "The both of you knew that they were alive and you didn't tell me? We had a memorial for Jamie and we buried Sherlock! You saw what their deaths did to me and still you did nothing!"

"They did it for good reasons, John. We've known this was going to happen for a long time. When we first came here, and after Jim had witnessed us solving his first crime. He had been planning this with Jamie the entire time, and because it took so long, Jamie was able to figure out a way to deceive him and even gain his partial trust. Her death was planned, so that Jim would be able to use her to plan the game, while he planned the Fall. Of course, Jamie was a part of that too. However, Jamie didn't want to kill Sherlock, so she planned it out with him and Molly ahead of time. Thus he lived, Moriarty died, and Jamie lived." Tessa said.

"However, because Moriarty died, Jamie was required to take over Jim's criminal organization and for the past three years, she has been slowly leading every strand of the web to Sherlock in order to have them arrested in several countries. Slowly, the organization fell apart and Sherlock and Jamie were finally able to come home.

John looked between the both of them and he walked over to Sherlock punching him square in the jaw, and moving over to Jamie when he watched Sherlock tumble to the ground, partially shocked. Jamie prepared to be hit, but John didn't make a move to do so.

"Be very grateful that I consider you family, Jamie." he responded, before wrapping her in a hug.

Jamie was slightly taken aback by this, not used to being hugged seeing as it hadn't happened in roughly four years. She slowly hugged John back, and Sherlock sat up, eyeing the scene in front of him with skeptical eyes. He stood up and he looked over to Tessa and Dynah. Dynah was watching the reuniting of their small little family at 221B, meanwhile Tessa was focused on him. She walked over to him, pushing him to the side slowly.

"Three years, Sherlock." Tessa stated.

"What about it?"

"You're acting as though nothing has changed. I knew you were alive, but to make us wait this long for you to return. Why? What was the point? Do not tell me it relied completely on Jamie and the slow process of leading all the criminals to you. You could have come back earlier than that, yet you didn't. Why?"

Sherlock didn't say anything, turning towards his violin and picking it up, playing Bach's Sonata No. 1. Tessa scowled at him, turning to walk away before pausing. She listened to the sound of Sherlock's violin, to what he was playing. She turned around to face him, a shocked expression on her face that slowly melted into a sad one, before she turned and walked back over to Jamie, hugging her as well as Dynah.

Tessa understood, just as Jamie had understood. Dynah would come to the realization as well and he knew that John might not be able to understand it. He didn't know fully exactly how he had felt the moment Jim Moriarty had died. Jim was right, in a way, by saying that Sherlock and himself were made for each other. He was aware that he was never going to find an enemy quite like Moriarty ever again and the though saddened him. Everyone else would be boring in comparison. It wasn't something he wanted and that was why it had truly taken him three years to come back. It was his time to truly mourn the man who he would forever consider to be his equal. Once he finished his piece, he put his violin down and walked over to stand beside John. Even though the man was upset, he said nothing, smiling at Sherlock, and he reciprocated it. Their relationship would return to normal, eventually, once Sherlock had time to explain things properly. Suddenly the sound of a song filled the room. Another Brick in the Wall-Part 3. It was Jamie's phone. She pulled it out of her pocket, checking it and smirking before sliding it back in her pocket.

"I have one more secret. One that I haven't told any of you." Jamie said, smirk still ever present on her face. "I have always made it a point to remain neutral. To never chose a side, and still I haven't, though many of you think I have taken Sherlock's side. I haven't. You even thought I had take Jim's at one point." She said, looking over at Sherlock. "No. I'm on no side. Which is why I didn't tell you this." Jamie walked over to look out the window, receiving another text and smirking. "I never ran Jim Moriarty's criminal web. I didn't have to."

"What the hell are you talking about, Jamie?" Dynah asked.

The realization was dawning on all of them.

All they needed was the confirmation.

"Jim Moriarty is still alive."

FIN


End file.
